A mother was left to watch the colour drain from her son's face while they were stuck in traffic on the way to hospital after a 999 call handler told her an ambulance would be at least eight hours. Georgia Faith Johnson was making the solo trip to the University Hospital of Wales after being told to get her son Tobias Benjamin to accident and emergency immediately after he started experiencing a seizure.
The mother and son had been at home for twenty minutes on Monday evening when Benjamin's eyes started to roll to the back of his head. He became completely unresponsive with his little body jerking. Mum Georgia who was home alone with Benjamin at the time immediately called 999 for help.
The 23-year-old support worker from Rumney, Cardiff, said that despite the desperation of the situation, she was told there was an eight hour wait for an ambulance and was advised to get him to the hospital herself as soon as she could. Within five minutes of starting the short journey to the hospital, Georgia said she looked back at her son in his car seat and saw "any mum's worst nightmare."
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"My son's colour had drained from his face, his lips were blue and he was completely floppy and lifeless. I called 999 again at this point, we were bumper to bumper traffic on Southern Way. They told me I needed to get my son and check if he was breathing. Out of instinct I just reached behind me, unplugged him from his car seat and dragged him into the front seat to see that his breathing was going ten to the dozen."
At this point Georgia had pulled into the bus lane and was then joined by a man in his car. She added: "In that moment I was just running on adrenaline, someone said why didn’t you go down the bus lane but all I could think was just get him out of the car. I had taxis and buses behind me I was overwhelmed.
"My mum passed away a couple of years ago in a similar circumstance where she needed to be worked on so it was just traumatic to feel in that situation again because a couple of years ago we were resuscitating my mum and that sadly didn’t work. This man came over and I was just thinking I can’t get my two year old into the middle of the road and he reassured me that look there’s two cars now they can see us it will be fine."
Tobias was laid on the ground on a fleece blanket given by the man. Still on the phone to the call handler, she was told to get a defibrillator, but the nature of the road meant it was impossible for Georgia or anyone else to get anywhere stuck in the gridlocked traffic.
"I then begged for her to just send an ambulance to which she responded that there was still a five hour wait and there was nothing that she could do. Obviously at this point I was completely besides myself and felt absolutely helpless."
Fortunately at this point more people had stopped to help, a fire man and one lady who was trained in first aid. She managed to get Tobias into the recovery position and to Georgia's relief, Tobias came around and started crying before the seizure started again.
"Someone must have been watching us from above because just at that moment, in the traffic a random ambulance with two paramedics were also stuck in the traffic and saw us and jumped into action to help my little boy, pulling him straight up onto the truck and blue lighting us to hospital where he needed sedating to stop the seizure that had been going on for over half an hour."
Tobias has experienced convulsions before due to having a high temperature but Georgia said he was fine on Monday and showed no signs of a temperature or illness. He has now been discharged from hospital with anti seizure medication for Georgia to apply if he experiences another seizure that lasts longer than five minutes. Doctors were unable to diagnose epilepsy - which is done by applying a monitor to the head while a person is experiencing seizures - as the seizure had been going on for so long at that stage they had to intervene.
Georgia said Tobias will now be seen by a consultant at the Noah's Ark Children's hospital based at the University Hospital of Wales every four months. She added: "The paediatric resus unit and then on the pelican ward at Noah's Ark Children's hospital were brilliant. Another group of amazing people who I'll never thank enough along with the police officers who picked my car up from the side of the road and brought it to the hospital for me."
Georgia extends her thanks and would love to identify the strangers who helped her on the side of the road. If this was you or you know someone who did come to her aid, please get in touch with reporter Lydia Stephens by emailing lydia.stephens@walesonline.co.uk
Sonia Thompson, the Welsh Ambulance Service’s Assistant Director of Operations (Emergency Medical Service), said: “We are deeply sorry about Georgia’s experience, which we know will have been distressing and fraught for all involved. Extreme pressure on our ambulance service, including protracted hospital handover delays, seriously affects our ability to reach patients as quickly as we would like.
“This meant that 47% of our resources were unable to attend to those in the community. We continue to work with Local Health Board and Welsh Government partners to try and implement meaningful and sustainable change.
“The public can help by only calling 999 in a serious or life-threatening emergency, so that our precious resources are available for those who need us most. We invite Georgia to contact our Putting Things Right team so we can investigate the incident further, and send her son our best wishes on his continued recovery.”
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