A mother of two from St Mary’s Bay in Kent has her 10-year-old daughter to thank for saving her life after she suffered a major heart attack while behind the wheel of her car earlier this year.

Rachel, a local florist, was driving her daughter Alice, 10, and her younger sister, Emily to her work over the Easter holiday in April when she began to experience nausea, jaw pain and severe chest pain.

Realising something was seriously wrong, she managed to pull the car over in a lay-by in Ashford.

Quick-thinking Alice immediately called 999 and flagged down a nearby lorry driver to assist. She remained calm while speaking to Emergency Medical Advisors Cameron Hillman-Smith and Keira Bass, clearly describing her mum’s symptoms and the severity of her pain.

Emergency Care Support Worker, Rachael Nicholson-Root, and Paramedic, Rachel Lees, arrived on scene and performed an electrocardiogram (ECG) which confirmed that Rachel was having a serious heart attack.

She was quickly blue lighted to the specialist Percutaneous Coronary Intervention (PPCI) centre at the William Harvey Hospital, where surgeons discovered a blockage in a major artery, the largest blood vessel carrying oxygen-rich blood from the heart to the rest of the body.

Thanks to the courage of Alice and ambulance colleagues, Rachel received the urgent treatment she needed and was discharged just four days later, returning home to her fiancé and two daughters.

To recognise Alice’s incredible bravery and quick thinking, the family were recently invited to the Ashford Make Ready Centre to be reunited with the emergency team involved in Rachel’s care. During the visit, Alice was presented with a certificate of bravery from the Trust’s Chief Executive.

Paramedic Rachel said: “It really was a miracle that Alice was in the car with her mum that day and that she knew exactly what to do. Her quick thinking really was the difference between life and death.”

Mum Rachel said “I am so proud of Alice and over the moon that she’s been recognised for her bravery that day. Thanks to her, and the SECAmb team, I’ll now get to walk down the aisle and marry my partner of 19 years.”