5-year-old Sunderland boy explains how he saved his dad from serious injury after he collapsed

Ellis ward, 5, explains how he saved his dad from serious injury after he collapsed with an epileptic seizure.

Transcript

00:00Okay then James, you mentioned that you do suffer with epilepsy but have been dormant

00:05but you've recently started having quite a few seizures. You're in the house with Ellis

00:09on Sunday, just tell me what, well from what you've been told, what happened at the place?

00:13So he was playing on his Xbox, I was just sitting watching him and then next thing I

00:20remember really is Ellis saying Dad, Dad, Dad a few times and he's like right close

00:26to my face, he said you've had a seizure, you've had a seizure. What's happened? He

00:30told us a couple of times there and then I just remember like coming round and being

00:36very drowsy and not sure where I was or what's happened and he was just telling us I've had

00:41a seizure and then I asked him what, how long and he told us how long I've had the seizure

00:46for and he was just telling us that, what he'd done so he can make sure I've not hit

00:50my head and he'd shut the curtains and the blinds and he'd turn off any excess light

00:55around from us. I understand counting how long you've been out for is important because

00:59it determines whether you have to phone an ambulance or not, is that right? Yeah, that's

01:01right, yeah. So Ellis, do you remember what happened and what did you do? What was happened

01:06with your Dad? So I think he fell asleep and he had a seizure and he was lying with his

01:17head light and he had the lamp in it and he might have hurt his head so I got him back

01:25on and his pillow turned the Xbox off with the button and shut the blinds and shut the

01:32curtains. Is that because you'd be sensitive to light when you came round then, yeah? Yeah.

01:39And were you calm at the time, were you panicking, how did you feel when you saw your Dad having

01:42a seizure? Yeah. So it happened again, would you know exactly what to do? Yeah. And how

01:49long has your Dad got to be out for before you would call an ambulance, do you know how

01:53long he'd be out for? One minute. So have you learnt this from your Mum? Because I know

01:57you've seen your Mum dealing with your Dad and he had a seizure. My Mum has taught me

02:01it but after I've done it, so... Okay. And so James, how do you feel about how your little

02:11Dad here reacted, you know, under a situation like that? Yeah, I mean he isn't, I mean I

02:15wouldn't have thought he'd know what to do, I've never told him which is, I should have

02:19really because it's something that he should know but I've never had the seizures for a

02:23while so it's something I never really thought about teaching him because they've been quite

02:28controlled but I'm just relieved that he's there and he knew exactly what to do and kept

02:34me safe. Because I guess you know, you could have been quite badly injured if you'd cracked

02:39your head or when you're having your convulsions, that could have been a big problem, yeah? Yeah,

02:43that is a risk they have, like I say, I had a seizure a few weeks ago where I have been

02:48injured, like broken bones and was admitted in the hospital. I've had a broken bone as well.

02:54So it was just kind of, didn't know he knew what to do or if he'd just picked it up maybe

02:58from my wife or seen it in passing. But you knew it was important to protect your Dad's head,

03:04Alice, yeah?