2021 Winner
Mia Hignett
Quick thinking eight-year-old saved her mum’s life by unblocking her airway after she collapsed at home.
Mia showed calm and courage way beyond her years when her mum suffered a terrifying seizure and stopped breathing.
The youngster called 999 and with guidance from an operator cleared her mum’s airway and placed her in the recovery position, saving her life. Once she was breathing, she looked after her one-year-old sister Ava until paramedics arrived.
The modest nine-year-old, who was eight at the time of the incident, says she only did what anyone else wanting to ‘save their mummy’ would do”.
Mum Helen, 38, is a retired police officer with Greater Manchester Police. She was left after being beaten up on duty 10 years ago and suffers hemiplegic migraines and hemicrania headache disorder.
The condition caused the seizure, which mimicked the symptoms of a stroke.
Mia told the call handler that her mum was not breathing and had white foam coming out of her mouth and nose. They told the youngster to put her mum on her back and tilt her head back to clear her airways.
Mia followed the instructions and was able to confirm to the operator that her mum was breathing again. She was then guided how to place her in the recovery position.
Helen says her daughter told her afterwards that she had remembered a conversation they had shared months earlier, when Mia was asking her mother about her time as a police officer.
“I told her that you always had to stay calm and not panic in an emergency, because when you are calm you can make clear decisions. After I came out of hospital we were talking and she broke down crying and told me ‘I remembered what you told me, to stay calm so I would make the right decision’. That made me so proud.”
Mia received her trophy in a special surprise in the famous Blue Peter garden with the show’s presenters Mwaksy Mudenda and Richie Driss.
She thought she was being interviewed about getting her gold Blue Peter badge, but in fact the pair had hidden the trophy in the undergrowth.
Helen adds: “They said to her, ‘Oh what’s that down there?’ and she picked it up and read out ‘Mia Hignett’ and said, ‘Oh that’s my name!’
“She was over the moon but she did ask me after, ‘wouldn’t everyone do that for their mummy?’ She saved my life. I cannot thank her enough.”