Newry boy left with brain injury after choking on his lunch | UK News

A Newry mother, whose young son will be a life-long wheelchair user after choking on food, has shared their story, saying she does not want another family to experience the same nightmare.

Shauna O’Brien’s son Harry, who will be two years old at the end of March, sustained a severe brain injury from lack of oxygen during the incident last year.

“He was having sausages, they were cut up and he choked on his lunch,” Ms O’Brien said.

The Northern Ireland Ambulance Service said choking incidents are relatively common but they rarely result in serious injuries.

It gets about two calls every day about patients of all ages choking and said there are steps people can take to help someone in an emergency.

Ms O’Brien said her son “never took a breath” during the incident which happened last September.

Harry was taken to Newry’s Daisy Hill Hospital but he went into cardiac arrest.

Doctors finally stabilised him before he was moved to the Royal Victoria Hospital in Belfast.

In total, he spent four months in hospital before being allowed home.

But his family has been told Harry will never walk and is unlikely to talk when he gets older.

He was diagnosed with a hypoxic brain injury, meaning his brain was starved of oxygen, and four-limb dystonia, which can lead to uncontrolled spasms in his arms and legs.

“Choking was always my biggest fear,” Ms O’Brien told News NI.

“Before I even had children choking was my biggest fear and I never thought it would come knocking at my door.

“But it’s such a freak accident and it can happen to anybody.”

Ms O’Brien said Harry’s brain had been starved of oxygen for a total of 50 minutes a and she believes it was a miracle doctors saved his life.

In the Royal Victoria Hospital the family were told the child was not expected to survive, but his mother said she “knew he would”.

“When I got the news that the damage was done and our lives were changing forever, of course, that hit us all like a tonne of bricks,” she said.

“But, again, my outlook was if Harry can breathe on his own then Harry deserves a life like any other child.”

Harry’s vision has also been impaired, and he now needs help eating and has been given a gastronomy tube.

Ms O’Brien said life in undeniably different now for the family.

“You don’t just get up and go now,” she said.

“Before this we would have been away everywhere, all summer we were at different farms, beaches, parks.

“And now it’s not just getting up and getting out – you’re getting his feeds ready, his medicines ready and all his equipment that he needs.”

Ms O’Brien now wants to make sure the same accident does not happen to another family.

“If we can raise awareness just to be so cautious and careful when giving food to the children, that’s our job done.

“We don’t want another family to live through the nightmare that we had to live through.”

On average, one child dies every month from choking across the UK as a whole, according to the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (Rospa).

However, hundreds more treated in hospital for the effects of choking.

“Every parent, myself included, has watched a child start to choke and felt that rising sense of panic,” said NIAS Medical Director Dr Nigel Ruddell.

He said small objects like beads and batteries pose a common risk but it is also important to “cut up food small enough for a child, appropriate to their age”.

If you witness someone choking and are not sure what to do, Dr Ruddell said “ring 999 and our staff in the control room will talk you through what you need to try”.

“The first thing obviously is to look in the mouth,” Dr Ruddell advised.

“If you can see something obvious that you can easily grab and pull out of the mouth, absolutely do so.

“But don’t poke blindly around the back of the throat with fingers because something that’s not obvious – you may actually just push it down further.”

Dr Ruddle added that if you cannot release the blockage by hand, the next step is to encourage the child to cough, if possible.

“A lot of children will actually cough the blockage out, but if not then you’re into more aggressive measures.”

With a baby or small child, the next step is to place them in a position with their head facing down by laying them along your arm or thigh, supporting their head.

“First of all we give five sharp blows with the heal of your hand between the child’s shoulder blades – check every time you do this to see if anything has come out.”

If that does not work, the next step in the case of a baby or infant is to perform chest thrusts.

“Hold the child (face) downwards, again supporting the head and neck, and with two fingers push sharply on the lower half of their breastbone up to five times”.

“In older children, it’s much more like adults – we use abdominal thrusts or what people would often have referred to as the Heimlich manoeuvre,” Dr Ruddle said.

“That’s where you stand behind the child, you put arms around their waist, make a fist with one hand and grasp it with the other.

When you hands are locked together, he advised that you then “pull sharply upwards and inwards behind the breastbone” up to five times.

The aim is to force air out of the lungs, which can sometimes expel the blockage.

“If these immediate measures aren’t working, you absolutely do need to be calling 999,” Dr Ruddle said.

“But keep repeating the back blows and either the chest or abdominal thrusts, depending on the child’s age, until help arrives.”

“If the worst happens and at any stage the child collapses or becomes unconscious, we would be recommending starting CPR (cardiopulmonary resuscitation).

“If you have phoned 999, our staff in the ambulance control room will talk you through what to do,” he added.

Further information on what to do if a child is choking can be found on the NHS website.