I was heading to my bed on Saturday night when I saw this tweet from Lib Dem MSP Alex Cole-Hamilton:

Not your average Saturday night. I had to partially resuscitate Darcy (4) after she swallowed a coin. Blue lighted to Sick Kids and had coin (E50 cents) removed under general anaesthetic. Staff have been wonderful and so good to Darcy. Heroes all. pic.twitter.com/Gt98Vg9PHf

— Alex Cole-Hamilton MSP🔶🇺🇦 (@agcolehamilton) March 9, 2019

Scary, scary stuff. The thought of my child choking was probably one of the things that scared me most. I made sure I knew what do do if that happened, but I’m glad I never had to demonstrate the skill.

Thank heavens little Darcy was fine, due to skills learned by her Dad  a quarter of a century ago.

I had a friend who doesn’t do social media and who’s on holiday in Australia contact me to say they’d seen Alex featured in the press so many people across the world will have seen his new found mission to raise  awareness of what happened to his daughter to make sure that every parent is equipped with first aid skills.

His actions will save more lives than Darcy’s.

The very next  morning a member of my family faced a medical emergency at which first aid was required. 

You never know when that situation could arise when your action could save a life. Or when someone else’s swift and knowledgable action could save yours.

You can see Alex and Darcy here from 15:56 as Alex talks to BBC Reporting Scotland (where there is a demonstration on what to do from St Andrew’s Ambulance) and you can check out the St John Ambulance advice on what to do if a child is choking here.

* Caron Lindsay is Editor of Liberal Democrat Voice and blogs at Caron's Musings. You can find her on Bluesky at caronmlindsay.bsky.social