In five year old Alyssa's eyes, "Mummy was being silly," lying on the floor instead of rushing around getting her ready for school on the first day back after Christmas. Her nine year old sister, Abby, however, had recognised a crisis and knew how to act.
She had seen her mother, Jill Renton, experiencing a "low" or "hypo" before and knew that at such times it was essential for her to take in glucose fast. She set the machine to show the amount of glucose in her mother's blood, fed her a Kit Kat bar and saw her pull out of her coma. Then she made breakfast for Alyssa and alerted their grandma, who lives just over the road in Kings Drive. In a few minutes, Jill was sitting on the settee and the emergency had passed. There was not even a need to call a doctor. And neither Abby nor Alyssa could undertand why mummy was giving them such big cuddles and making such a fuss of them.
Jill suffers from diabetes and knows well enough how to deal with its challenges to look after her family and work in the evenings. However, she realises that if it had not been for the alertness of Abby she could have died, and it was fortunate that she had not suffered the coma after the children had gone to school. It had been caused by abnormally low glucose levels (hypoglycemia), and in such cases it is essential to correct the problem by the rapid ingestion of glucose. The longer a hypo lasts the less the chances are of a full recovery.
The story proves how quickly young children can rise to responsibility given the challenge of a real emergency. Jill is thankful to be alive and very proud of her daughters.
Our picture shows Jill at home with Abby and Alyssa.