A DAD has shared his pride about his daughters’ Pride of Gwent Life Saver Award for her bravery.
On August 28, 2017 Craig Duke from Crosskeys suffered a serious seizure at 2.30am. Unbeknown to him, he was suffering from a brain tumour which caused the seizures.
The single dad was asleep when he fell out of his bed. He then went to the stairs and fell down.
He said: “I managed to get myself back to bed after falling downstairs. Then Torrie found me on the floor in my bedroom.”
Torrie, who is now eight, said: “Daddy fell on the floor and fell out of bed and then fell down the stairs.
“I felt worried, never seen it happen before. It was scary and I had to be brave.”
Mr Duke had a glass of water next to the bed and Torrie threw it on him in an effort to wake up her father.
She said: “I threw water on Daddy because I thought it would help and bring him over. I rang Nanny and she said she was on her way then she rang the ambulance.”
Torrie found her Dad’s mobile phone and called the last number dialled, Craig's friend, but they didn't answer. She was able to search the phone to find her grandmother’s phone number and called her, but she also didn't answer.
She then called her gran's house number, which she knows off by heart, and she eventually answered after three attempts.
Mr Duke said: “I always make sure she always had an emergency contact number. She said to her Nanny that she need to come down because Daddy was not very well. In the time my Mum made the journey Torrie turned lights on, got me downstairs and opened the front door.”
He still has no memory of the events that happened that night, and it was only when they spoke to Torrie that it became clear how brave she was.
“I still don’t remember,” he said, “and who knows when I would have woken up without her. It must have been so scary for her. All I remember waking up in A&E with my mum and dad there.”
Mr Duke had an operation where they discovered that he had a brain tumour. It was then that they diagnosed it as cancer.
He has since had a course of radiotherapy and chemotherapy and only has two weeks of treatment left.
The 33-year-old said: “ Torrie is the reason I am still here, she reminds me to take medicine and tells me what I can and can’t do. We take care of each other.”
Torrie and the other Pride of Gwent Award winners will be featured in upcoming editions of the South Wales Argus.
They will be celebrated at an awards ceremony which will be held on the afternoon on May 25 in the Coldra Court Hotel where the overall Pride of Gwent winner for 2018 will be announced.
To find out more about the awards visit southwalesargus.co.uk/prideofgwent
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