Mum's emotional reunion with son's life-saving hero

A woman has thanked a volunteer emergency responder for saving her son's life when they were reunited at the BBC.

Jessica Martin said her 14-month-old son Lenny took a "very nasty turn" and unexpectedly stopped breathing at a birthday party in Horsham, West Sussex, on 22 November.

An ambulance was called as Lenny started having seizures and went "completely blue", Ms Martin said.

The mum, from Crawley, said an "incredible" volunteer for South East Coast Ambulance Service (Secamb) Mark Marney arrived within three minutes and took control of the situation.

"There was something about Mark and his demeanour. The way that he looked at me and said: 'I've got this," she told the BBC.

Ms Martin said she did not catch Mr Marney's name after they were brought to East Surrey Hospital by ambulance crews.

She also found out that Mr Marney was a volunteer.

"Me and my husband looked at each other in complete disbelief that somebody in his own time, with his own family, was available... on a Saturday.

"That is just incomprehensible," she continued.

Ms Martin later asked on Facebook if anyone knew who he was.

"In the most traumatic moment of our lives, he was calm and such a hero," she wrote.

"I'd love to thank him personally."

When Mr Marney spoke to BBC Radio Sussex about what happened, they arranged for Ms Martin and Lenny to make a surprise visit to the studio - the first time they had met since the incident.

Mr Marney, a former Royal Navy aircraft engineer from Midhurst, said: "Luckily, Lenny was a bruiser of a boy."

The 14-month-old had to spend one night in the Redhill hospital after the incident and is now being monitored closely, according to Ms Martin.

She said he has had no more seizures and the cause is still unknown.

"I really needed Mark to understand that because of his kindness... that selflessness, he saved my son's life," she said.

"All of our family nearly lost him that day."

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