Seven-year-old Isla saves life of 11-month-old baby after sleep apnea episode

A seven-year-old girl is being hailed a little hero after saving the life of an 11-month-old baby.

Baby Reuben Skeech suffers from sleep apnea and stops breathing at least once-a-day. He wears a monitor on hs nappy which alerts his mum when he stops breathing.

Eagle-eyed Isla, who spotted that the monitor was beeping,  is being given a junior lifesaver award by the North West Ambulance Service for her quick-thinking actions.

At the time of the incident, Reuben’s mother Lucy was at a nearby stables in Warrington where she has a horse. Isla and her mother were looking after baby Ruben for the afternoon.

When Isla noticed the monitor go off, she quickly alerted her mother who then took Ruben out of his pram to try and revive him. Having witnessed Ruben have an episode before, Isla ran to the nearby stables to get mum Lucy.

By this time Ruben was unresponsive and Lucy’s friend Tom Henderson from the stables was just about to perform CPR when Ruben began to cry.

Ruben’s grandmother Paula Skeech said: “Usually when Ruben is lifted out of his pram, he starts to breathe again.

“Isla was so calm, she was better than some of the adults actually. She got everyone that needed to be there, and stood there. She’s a little star!”

Tom, 21, who is an emergency medical technician, said: “It took probably a good 30 seconds for him to start breathing again. It’s happened before but not for that long.”

The family says the sleep apnea episode was by far Ruben’s worst to date. He is currrently in Alder Hey hospital in Liverpool receiving treatment, including a brain scan, and his heart is being constantly monitored.