How nine-year-old Sharnie saved her mum’s life
When little Sharnie Taylor found her mum on the ground at home in a diabetic coma, she sprang into action. Listen to how her quick thinking saved her mum’s life.
VIC News
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Sharnie Taylor’s quick thinking saved her mum when she fell into a diabetic coma.
Sharnie, who was nine at the time, found her mum on the ground at home in Doreen and called triple-0 immediately.
Mum-of-four Laurie Delmore was mopping her Doreen home when she fell into a potentially fatal hypoglycaemic coma.
“She literally saved my life,” Ms Delmore said.
“It was such a blessing she was here.
“I was cleaning and next thing I know I was waking up to paramedics.”
Ms Delmore is type one diabetic and suffers when her blood sugars become dangerously low.
Her medical alert dog, Lolly, was in a different part of the house and had not picked up on her ill-health.
Chilling audio from the fouteen-minute Triple Zero call demonstrates exhibits how calm Sharnie was under pressure.
“Mum just won’t get up, she is asleep,” Sharnie said to ESTA call taker Therese Vincent-Rori.
“This is my first time doing this.”
She was then instructed to listen if her mum was breathing.
“Stay right with her and keep your eye on her,” Ms Vincent-Rori said.
“If she vomits we are going to have to clean out her mouth and nose.
“You’re doing so well looking after mum when she is like this.”
Ms Vincent-Rori said Sharnie did “so well” to manage the crisis and the pair talked on the phone for 15 minutes until the ambulance arrived.
“She made things so much easier,” she said.
“Anyone who is able to respond well in times of crisis is really brave.
“If she wasn’t as helpful, we wouldn’t have been able to respond to quickly, we had all the information thanks to Sharnie.”
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Ms Vincent-Rori said it was fundamental for parents to teach their children how to say their address to triple-zero in case of an emergency.
Sharnie has been honoured with a Triple Zero Hero award for her bravery.
“I tried to wake Mum up, but she wouldn’t wake up, it was so scary,” Sharnie said.
“I was confused with what was going on. It was like she was trying to speak but she couldn’t.”
Sharnie said it was “so good” to have helped save her mum’s life.
An added bonus for the Hazel Glen College student was the day off from school.