Blackwood mum's life saved by daughter's bravery in princess dress

Leisha Davies, 35, was unconscious on the floor of their home in Pontllanfraith with only daughter Poppy in the house as her husband was working a night shift. 

Poppy stayed by her mother's side overnight, and in the morning put on her princess dress and wellies, walked to Pontllanfraith Primary School nearby and calmly told teachers: "Mummy's on the floor and I can't wake her up."

Poppy went to school for help in her princess dress (Image: Leisha Davies) Two teachers came to the family's aid, with one getting Poppy ready for school and the other calling 999 and putting Mrs Davies in the recovery position. 

Mrs Davies had been feeling unwell since going in for a twisted bowel operation just before January 18, and had collapsed on the bedroom floor that night, having gone into septic shock. 

She said: "When the paramedics got to me I had 15 per cent of one lung working was in multi organ failure due to the septic shock and was hypothermic.

"The Welsh air ambulance landed in the school grounds and the police came along with the paramedics.

"My mum and husband got to the house where my mum followed the ambulance to the grange and my husband was with me. The equipment that I needed meant I could not go by air as it was too much."

Mrs Davies was taken to the Grange Hospital in Cwmbran where she was taken to resus and then ITU, arresting twice, leading to her being put in an induced coma. 

Leisha was put into an induced coma and put on an ECMO machine (Image: Leisha Davies)

Her consultant, David Hepburn, put her on an ECMO machine to take over the work of her lungs, for which she was transferred to Bristol Royal Infirmary. 

Mrs Davies said the journey was "risky" as her platelets were so low, with a risk of a bleed on the brain, but thankfully a CT scan confirmed everything was okay. After being put on an ECMO machine, Mrs Davies also needed dialysis due to a failing pancreas. 

She said: " It was all touch a go and my family were called in as they didn’t think I would survive. They had done everything they could for me. 

"I managed to survive this and was transferred back to the grange to recover after about two and a half weeks in Bristol.

"I woke to feel my mums hand on my face and nodded when she asked if I was ok. She said to my husband “she’s back” as they didn’t know if I would have any brain damage for three to four weeks.

"I could not move my body, fingers, legs, head. Everything felt paralysed. I could not speak due to having a tracheostomy which was very frustrating as people couldn’t understand what I needed a lot of the time."

It was 'touch and go' whether Leisha would make it for the family, including daughter Poppy and husband Ryan (Image: Leisha Davies) Mrs Davies had to re-learn to walk, talk and swallow and build her muscles up while recovering in the ITU. 

She is now awaiting amputation on around half of each foot due to necrosis damage from the amount of medication she had been taking to keep her vital organs alive. 

Leisha has said she will be 'forever grateful' to Poppy for saving her life (Image: Leisha Davies)

She added: "I am so very thankful to our beautiful Poppy as if it wasn’t for her I would not be here today. I’ll be forever grateful to her.

"She’s my best friend and our bond has got so much stronger."