Jacqueline Flanighan

Bleeding heavily from the head, Jacqueline Flanighan was found unconscious on the kitchen floor by her 12-year-old son, Brandon.

Luckily Brandon had taken a first aid course and knew what to do such situations.

'I saw the blood and I knew I had to do something. When I did the first aid course in school I listened because I knew it was important. I remembered what I'd learnt.'

The drama unfolded in the early hours of the morning. Brandon's father had left for work at 5am and Jacqueline was sleeping downstairs as she recovered from a painful operation on her foot. She awoke at 6am and was walking into the kitchen when she passed out and fell to the floor, hitting her head. When her children found her, 40 minutes later, she was lying in a pool of blood.

'I put a tea towel on mum's head to compress the wound and I helped her to the sofa', says Brendan. 'Then I lay her down and raised her legs in case she went into shock. My sister called an ambulance and called our dad while I stayed with mum, asking her questions to keep her awake until help arrived. When the ambulance came, I told them everything they needed to know to help her.'

Jacqueline remembers: 'My head was bleeding profusely and I was drifting in and out of consciousness, I was aware of voices and I felt the coldness of the floor. In my head I assumed I was dead and in a morgue. I was in pain and was sure I must have died.

'There was so much blood, yet my 12-year-old son transformed into this calm young man talking to me and acting as if he were a trained doctor. All I have is a bump on my head and a scar. '

She continued: 'Without Brandon who knows if I would even be here. What if I had been at home on my own? Imagine how powerless Brandon would have felt if he had not known exactly what to do'.