Award nomination for nurses who left wedding celebration to save toddler's life
Two nurses have been nominated for a bravery award after leaving a wedding ceremony to save the life of a three-year-old who had been discovered unresponsive in a pond.
Kelsey Pirie and Emma Brown, who work at Cimla Hospital, were among the guests at Bryngarw House in Bridgend when they were alerted to shouting in the adjacent country park.
Still dressed in their wedding attire, they kicked off their heels and ran to the scene, where they met rescuer Stefan Johnson, who had pulled the toddler from a pond and begun performing CPR.
Despite being adult care nurses with no previous experience performing CPR on children, their professional instincts kicked in and the pair spent five minutes attempting to resuscitate the child, who initially had no pulse.
Emma, 38, said: “Somebody started screaming for help and so we ran towards them, kicking off our shoes on the way, without really knowing what was happening. When we got about half way there we realised it was a little boy.”
The pair were met by the rescuer, Stefan Johnson, and immediately began attempting to resuscitate the boy as a crowd grew around them.
Kelsey said: “We didn’t know how long he had been in the water but he was unresponsive and there were no signs of life. He had no pulse.
“I started doing chest compressions and Emma started giving rescue breaths.”
Emma said: “It was difficult due to the amount of water, but after about five minutes he started breathing.”
By this time ambulances had arrived at the scene, as well as Wales Air Ambulance, and the two nurses handed over care of the toddler to paramedics and returned to the wedding.
Kelsey said: “All the guests had been watching it all unfold. The bride had seen it going on from the bridal suite, although she didn’t know exactly what was happening, she just knew there was an emergency.”
Emma added: “We didn’t really have a chance to process it; we had to snap back into wedding mode.
“I’m so thankful it was all ok because if it had been a different outcome I doubt the wedding would have gone ahead. As it was, it was just delayed for a short time.
“Although we are nurses, we are not paediatrics. We’ve been involved in CPR before but in hospital, which is a completely different scenario”
“If it had happened 10 minutes later we would have been inside for the ceremony and might not ever have known what was going on.
“The experience will stay with us forever I think, but because it was a positive outcome, hopefully it will not weigh too heavily. If we had not be able to bring him back or he had not survived it would have been a lot more difficult.”
The three-year-old, from Newport, was taken to hospital in a stable condition, and South Wales Police are now investigating the circumstances surrounding the incident.
Meanwhile, Emma and Kelsey, along with Mr Johnson who first pulled the toddler from the water, have been nominated by South Wales Police for a bravery award from the Royal Humane Society for their courage in saving the life of the 3-year-old.
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