2003 Winner
Hollie Ashe
Hollie Ashe had never been told what to do if her dad fell into a diabetic coma. At just four years old, her parents thought she was too young even to understand the condition.
But when her father’s blood-sugar levels dropped dangerously low and he fell unconscious, Hollie called an ambulance and gave him chocolate. She almost certainly saved his life.
Her father Jason, 33, says: “Without Hollie I dread to think what could have happened. She’s a hero.”
Jason was looking after his two daughters at their home in Bangor, Northern Ireland, last September.
He says: “I had been lying on the sofa and the next thing I knew – about an hour later – I came round and saw two paramedics and a policeman standing over me.
“They were giving me an injection of pure glucose to bring me around. Hollie, who is now five, says: “I was playing in the front room and Daddy was asleep. I wanted him to play with me but he wouldn’t wake up. I’d seen Daddy look like this before and Mummy put chocolate in his mouth.”
Jason says: “The paramedics told me she knew how to give them our address and said her daddy was a diabetic. Within four minutes they were at the door. My wife wouldn’t have been home until five hours later.”