Lifesaving Telford girl Ava, 6, tells her story on TV
Six-year-old Ava Whitehead, who saved her mother's life after she collapsed with a stroke at their Telford home, told her story to millions of people on breakfast TV.
Ava, from Horton Lane, Horton, Telford, appeared on Good Morning Britain yesterday with mum Sarah, 36, to talk about how she got help.
Sarah said: "Ava absolutely loved it. We went down on Sunday night, all a bit last minute, as they contacted us on Sunday. We stayed in a hotel and then got picked up and taken to the studio.
"I would like to say it was a fantastic experience for me, but I was so nervous, but for Ava it was fantastic. She was overwhelmed by it going into hair and make-up.
"I think Ava just loved the interview – she was a natural. She didn't have any nerves at all."
The number of strokes occurring in men aged between 40 and 54 in England has gone up by nearly half (46%) in less than 15 years, while it has risen by almost a third (30%) in women, the Stroke Association said.
Overall, the number of strokes occurring in people of working age (20 to 64) rose by a quarter during the same period.
The charity said its analysis of hospital data shows that stroke, which occurs when the blood supply to part of the brain is cut off, does not just happen to older people.
It also warned its findings have serious implications for the UK economy, as more people of working-age will be forced to live with a loss of income due to death and disability, already costing £1.3 billion each year.
During the interview with Ben Shepherd and Susanna Reid, Ava told them about how she alerted neighbours to save her mother's life on March 18.
She said: "Mummy wasn't talking good. She was just talking like blah blah blah and we didn't know what she meant.
"I thought I needed to call an ambulance but I didn't know how to ring them so I tried to ring Daddy. He wasn't there and I tried to send a message to Granny. Then I ran to the neighbour's house."
The neighbour, Pat Bancroft, called the ambulance while Ava's little sister Belle, three, stayed with Sarah.
Sarah was rushed to Telford's Princess Royal Hospital where she was administered a life-saving drug that must be given within the first hour, known as the "golden hour", of suffering from a stroke.
Doctors told the mother-of-two that she could have died or been left wheelchair-bound if her oldest daughter hadn't acted so quickly.
Ava said: "Now that Mummy's better I feel really happy and really proud of myself."
Following the interview Sarah treated Ava to a day in London where they visited the London Eye.
"I really enjoyed it, but it was great for Ava to get on there and to get all the recognition," she said.
"It does raise awareness as well to think that I'm quite young to have a stroke. If anyone watched the interview and thinks this can happen, then it can only help."
