Woman knocked out for three days only able to call for help because her phone still had charge

A woman was left paralysed from the waist down when she fell down the stairs, but a luckily timed purchase may have saved her life.

A lucky woman who was knocked out for three days after falling down the stairs was saved because she bought a new phone just days earlier.

Beth McDermott ditched her iPhone 6 because of its poor battery life.

The 42-year-old snapped up a $119 Huawei Y6 to replace it.

But she then fell down the stairs of her flat and was knocked unconscious after hitting her head at the bottom.

She finally came to three days later and was unable to move the lower half of her body.

Her new mobile was by her side – still with 50 per cent charge – so she was able to dial for an ambulance.

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Beth McDermott ditched her iPhone 6 because of its poor battery life. Picture: Triangle News

Beth – who lives alone – is convinced she would be dead if she hadn’t swapped phones.

She said her iPhone would probably had run out of charge and she wouldn’t have been able to raise the alarm.

Trainee celebrant Beth said: “It was the most horrible experience of my life, I cannot believe I’m still alive today.

“I was completely out for almost three days.

“It was a miracle in disguise this phone, especially for the price tag.”

Beth, from Lancaster, had become fed up with her old iPhone 6 – which she’d had for a year – because it would need charging after just a few hours.

She said: “Mine had a reputation for having a poor battery life and it was constantly switching off when it was charged appropriately.

“It was often extremely annoying as it required charging at least four times a day to keep it on.

“You would think Apple would put much better performing batteries in their models, especially when they cost hundreds of pounds.”

Recalling the accident, she continued: “It happened in literally just seconds.

“One second I was to step on the first stair but the next I tripped and fell down the stairs before bumping my head.

“Everything then seemed to go black.”

Then describing how she came to, she added: “I couldn’t move my legs and the rest of my body was in throbbing pain.”

Beth fell down the stairs in her apartment and said she was out cold for three days. Picture: Triangle News

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Not being able to move or call out to her neighbours for help, Beth reached out for her phone.

She added: “I wasn’t expecting it to work at all.

“I just had enough capability to be able to reach out to my Huawei before pressing a button and realised it still had than 50 per cent battery life.”

Beth spent a week in hospital.

“I was extremely confused and had regular hallucinations and often had poor drowsy speech,” she added.

“I just couldn’t believe that my phone must have lasted three days, it was like a blessing in disguise.

“Huawei has had so much criticism recently because of fears that their equipment could be used to spy on other countries.

“But actually their phones are fantastic, I wouldn’t have been alive today if it wasn’t for it.”

Singleton Beth suffers from rhabdomyolysis, a condition in which damaged skeletal muscle breaks down rapidly and can often cause chronic pain.

Beth added: “My recovery will take a while longer than usual and often I have to use a crutch to walk around.

“I often sleep on the sofa because I’m so scared that it could happen again.”

– with wires