'My little girl nearly choked to death on a euro coin'
Reitseal Ni Dhonnchadha (5) from Athenry, Co Galway had swallowed a euro coin. But a vital piece of information her mother Sandra had picked up from a TV show just 10 days previously saved Reitseal's life
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Monday March 10 2008
A MOTHER of three saved her daughter from choking to death after using techniques she had seen on TV just over one week beforehand.
Sandra Shaw said she had the most frightening experience of her life when her daughter Réitseal Ni Dhonnchadha (5) swallowed a euro coin.
Mrs Shaw, from Athenry in Co Galway, said she had dropped some drinking water to a friend's house when she turned to see Réitseal had got out of the car and was coming towards her.
"She had a very frightened expression and I knew instantly that something very serious was happening," she said, recalling the terrifying incident.
"She was making the universal sign that someone is choking, she had her hands to her throat."
Réitseal's face swelled and she began to vomit continuously. Her mother rang 999 and as the operator began to explain how to carry out CPR on a child she realised she had seen a segment on first aid on TV just 10 days beforehand.
"I knew instantly that I'd seen it on the 'Afternoon Show' and I knew that I had to get her upside down to try and stop the coin going into her windpipe."
She put Réitseal across her knees and tapped her 10 times between the shoulder blades. She then had to turn her over every 30 seconds to make sure that her airway was clear before turning her back again and tapping her back again.
"Things were starting to get dodgy at that stage," said Mrs Shaw.
"She was vomiting constantly even though the coin was still in her throat."
She said "27 long minutes" later the ambulance arrived and the medical staff told her Réitseal's vital statistics were dropping.
She was rushed to University College Hospital in Galway where she had to undergo surgery twice in order to remove the coin.
The coin had made its way down her throat and into her stomach so she had to have abdominal surgery to remove it.
Last night Mrs Shaw -- who is also mother to Jessica (16) and Liadh (2) -- said the frightening incident made her very aware of how necessary it is to have a basic knowledge of first aid and CPR.
"If I hadn't seen the TV and been given directions by the operator I would have done the wrong thing," she said.
"I would have put her on my knee or given her something to eat or drink to push it down.
"But because I had seen a demonstration I had a picture in my head of what needed to be done."
She was later told if the little girl had been left sitting up straight the coin could have gone down her windpipe. If that had happened it would have slipped into her lung and caused it to collapse.
"She still has some difficulty eating and drinking.
"But I'm just so grateful I knew what to do because the outcome could have been so different."
She urged all parents to learn the techniques which could ultimately save their child's life.
Mrs Shaw and Réitseal will appear on the 'Afternoon Show' on RTE1 today.
'If I hadn't seen the TV and been given directions by the operator, I would have done the wrong thing. I would have given her something to eat or drink to push it down'
- Edel Kennedy
