A TREDEGAR grandfather, who came to the rescue of a 10-month-old tot who almost drowned in the bath, is being recognised for his life saving actions.
Terrence Briggs, 62, of St Lukes Road, Dukestown, who works as a litter picker for Blaenau Gwent Council, was working in Waundeg on May 1 last year, when Kirsty Rodgers came running from her house carrying her unconscious son, Alex, and screaming for help.
Mrs Rodgers, 23, put her two sons, Aaron, then two and Alex, 10-months at the time, in the bath after her husband Timothy, 33, left to pick up his daughter from Ebbw Vale at around 9am.
She said she nipped downstairs to prepare a bottle for Alex, when she heard Aaron screaming and ran back upstairs to find Alex face down in the bath.
Mrs Rodgers said: "I thought he was dead. He wasn't breathing and he was purple. I picked him up and ran outside to get help. I didn't know what to do."
Mr Briggs heard Mrs Rodgers screaming and told another woman in the street to call an ambulance, before taking the unconscious tot from his mother's arms, taking him into her living room and started to resuscitate him.
He lay Alex on his side and patted his back and chest to get the water from his lungs and then gave the youngster the kiss of life until he started breathing again.
Mr Briggs, who learnt first aid from his wife Sonia who was a nurse for 30 years, said: "I was just willing him to come round and breathe. It was just a really good feeling when he started to breathe."
Alex was taken to the Prince Charles Hospital in Merthyr Tydfil, where he was checked over by doctors, who warned Mr and Mrs Rodgers that he could have suffered brain damage after stopping breathing for so long. Fortunately the tot was none the worse for the ordeal and was released later that evening.
Police interviewed Mrs Rodgers at the hospital at the time of the incident and she was given a caution a few months later.
Mrs Rodgers said she believed it was fate Mr Briggs was there at the time, as he told them he had started work early that day so he could take his wife shopping in the afternoon.
She said: "Alex only stopped breathing for three or four minutes, but it felt like longer.
“The whole episode was the longest half hour of my life. I'm just so glad Terry was there, he knew exactly what to do. If he hadn't been there it could've been a lot worse. He really deserves the award."
Mr Briggs was nominated for a Royal Humane Society Award, which recognise efforts made to save the life of another, by officers who were called to the scene.
He was reunited with the Rodgers family at Gwent Police's commendation ceremony at the Burleigh Academy in Newport last night.
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