A FIVE-YEAR-OLD girl has been labelled a hero after FaceTiming her father to raise the alarm when her mother collapsed on the floor while having a stroke.
Quick-thinking Priya Galvin had only learned how to use FaceTime a few months ago, but she managed to contact her father after her mother Mary fell to the floor in their home and couldn't get up.
Speaking to The Neil Prendeville Show on Cork’s RedFM, proud father Damien explained how he received a call from Priya while he was driving to work last month.
"My phone went off. My daughter was Face-timing me. I normally wouldn't answer it but something made me take the call," said Damien.
"She was crying on the phone. She said that Mammy was drinking a cup of tea and now she was on the floor and she couldn't get up.
"I asked her to turn the camera around - I could see my fiancee was on the floor and very distressed. She couldn't get up."
Damien quickly hung up the phone and called Mary's sister, who sent her husband round to the house to help.
He explained that the front door was locked and the back door was sealed by a latch, but little Priya managed to open the latch to let her relatives inside.
Paramedics were called and rushed to the house, before taking Mary to Cork University Hospital, where she was told she had suffered a stroke.
"With a stroke, timing is precious and my little daughter is a hero in all of this. It is unbelievable - she doesn't know it but she is a hero," added Damien.
"She (Mary) might not be here today (if it wasn't for Priya) - on Tuesday, I saw the surgeon and I said it to him. I wanted to thank the surgeon for all he had done for our family. He gave us the best Christmas present possible. But he said you don't need to thank me for a job I do every day - you have a five year old who is a true hero."
"Priya didn't know what was going on but she knew her Mammy was distressed."
Damien, who had only taught Priya how to use FaceTime a few weeks before so she could phone her cousins anytime she wanted, stressed the importance of teaching kids about mobile devices.
"I just wanted to make people aware of how important is for children to understand phones and tablets. She (Priya) saved her mother's life that day with that Facetime call."
What a hero!
