Boy saves father after collapse

Jack fed his father chocolate and sugar drinks

A quick-thinking five-year-old boy alerted paramedics after his diabetic father was found slumped in an armchair.

Jack Baister fed his father John chocolate bars then dialled 999.

Within minutes a paramedic team turned up at the family's address in Cheddar Close, at Eston on Teesside.

Mr Baister, 40, was taken to hospital and released after treatment.

John Baister: Collapsed at his Teesside home

He said: "I taught Jack about low blood sugar and what to do if I collapsed.

"He is my hero."

Jack sprang into action after his father collapsed when his blood sugar plummeted to a dangerously low level.

The schoolboy urgently tried to feed Mr Baister a Mars bar and Lucozade before dialling 999 and asking for an ambulance.

Mr Baister added: "For someone so young to follow the textbook example is quite amazing.

"We keep telling him how well he has done and how proud we are but now he's asking us to stop saying it.

"He is very aware and sometimes if I am nodding off in front of the television he will come over and wake me up to check that my blood sugar level is OK."

Blood sugar

Most diabetics use doses of insulin to regulate blood sugar levels because their bodies are unable to do so naturally.

When his father collapsed, the youngster, a pupil at Alderman William Jones Primary School in Grangetown, called the ambulance service, giving details about his dad's condition to paramedic Emma Murphy who took his call.

When Coulby Newham-based paramedic Sue Smith and emergency medical technician Vince Potter arrived, John was given two glucagon injections and has now fully recovered.

Ms Smith said: "Jack saved his dad's life. He was calm and collected and was telling us what had happened, he knew about low blood sugar - he's an absolute star."