Derbyshire hero's roadside rescue on A610 after mum thought baby was dying

A young Derbyshire mum has thanked a heroic Good Samaritan who stopped to help when her baby started to convulse on a busy road.

Danielle Dady, 27, of Alfreton, said she thought her son was dying when he started having a fit in his car seat as she drove home.

Dozens of drivers had ignored her plight, despite her frantic pleas for assistance by a busy road in Derbyshire.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Ms Dady said: “I looked in the mirror and saw him starting to fit in the back of the car.”

The mother-of-two, from Leabrooks, said she pulled over and held her poorly one-year-old son Blake Chapman in her arms while trying to wave down drivers on the A610 towards Codnor.

“I was hysterically crying and frantically running around trying to wave people down, but no one would stop,” she said.

Ms Dady rang 999 but was so hysterical she was not able to give them a location for emergency services to send an ambulance.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

After almost 10 minutes of trying to flag down drivers, the distraught mum attempted to knock on doors of nearby houses. Still no one helped her. She said she had almost given up hope when a good Samaritan Gavin Clark, of Crich, pulled up alongside her and reassured her that everything would be okay.

“All of a sudden Gavin came running over to us out of nowhere, he was brilliant, he even went back to his car and got me a coat,” said Ms Dady.

He stayed with her and calmed her down so that she could call emergency services to get help. “He kept reassuring me, telling me the paramedics were on their way,” she said.

“If it wasn’t for him I would have been a mess.”

After Blake arrived at hospital on Friday, December 7, doctors told Ms Dady that he had suffered from extremely low blood sugar and had tonsilitis. He was checked over and discharged the same day and has since been on the mend.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Ms Dady continued: “When he arrived, Blake had stopped fitting, but his breathing had slowed down a lot.

“I don’t really remember a lot to be honest, I was just in a little bubble panicking.”

Ms Dady said that Mr Clark also helped calm her daughter, Isla Chapman, 4, who is deaf. Mr Clark said: “I didn’t make the post to be a hero or anything. I saw her sat on the floor with him in her hands. I thought it didn’t look right and I turned back around.

“I have two young kids myself so I thought if it was myself or my partner in need at the side of the road someone else would stop to help which is why it hit close to home.”