A FIVE YEAR old Killaloe boy has been awarded for his quick thinking as he helped his mother by promptly contacting emergency services when she lost consciousness.

By Adam Maloney

Ben Holland has been awarded a bravery medal from the National Ambulance Service for his actions in saving his mother, Jennie Kiely last month.

Last October, Jennie was diagnosed with Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome (POTS). Getting the diagnosis took years and finally arose after she collapsed in work and an ambulance was called for her.

She told The Clare Echo, “When I got to the hospital, they took my blood pressure and my heart rate, they had me stand up, have me lie down, stand on one foot, all these all these mad tests. Every time my position changed, my blood pressure would drop, but my heart rate would go through the roof and that was causing me to faint because the blood wasn’t circulating around my body properly. So that’s how they figured it out”.

Kiely suffers from the diagnosis on a regular basis in which a faint that arose last month was noticed by Ben to be a more serious occurrence than usual. “I suffer symptomatically every day, I don’t faint every day, sometimes I’m able to lower myself down. But I feel the effects of it daily. I faint maybe every two weeks but because it is a hormonal thing, there is times in the month where it is more often”.

She recalled, “It was a Saturday evening. I had been feeling very off that day. When I took my blood pressure in the morning it was quite low, and everything that I tried to do to bring it up wasn’t working. I just felt horrendous. So, I said, ‘Ben let’s have a lazy day’ and we’ll stay on the couch and watch movies. I started to feel much better after resting and at 8pm I said to him, ‘we better start getting ready for bed’ and when I stood up to go, I lost consciousness and I hit the floor”.

“Ben tried to wake me up, and when I wasn’t waking, he grabbed my phone and we previously showed him how to do an emergency call because back in June I ended up in resus and my heartrate was so high that they were worried that I was going to have a cardiac arrest. So, it scared me, so that’s why we’ve shown him how to do the emergency call, but I didn’t think he’d have to, especially so soon”.

A senior infant pupil in St. Michael’s Infant School in Limerick, Ben contacted emergency services and told them, “if they called Charlie Chaplin’s pub in Limerick and ask for Joe, they’d get his daddy”, as he did not know his father’s number when asked, Jennie said. “They asked him would he go next door to the neighbour and ask for help, and he said, ‘I’m not allowed outside when it’s dark because I’m only a small child”.

“They asked if this happened before and he said ‘yeah, she faints all the time, she has very low blood pressure and she has POTS’. So, they knew what they were coming to. I had been unconscious for nearly ten minutes. When they got there, Ben let them into the house and explained what happened, and they started to do an ECG on me to check my heart and blood pressure, so I was still on the floor in the same position, I hadn’t moved”.

On her current condition, Jennie said, “It’s kind of manageable now, I’m getting used to it and learning what triggers they send and what helps it, but it’s awful. I feel it every day, there’s at least one point every day where I see black stars, get lightheaded or feel a bit wobbly. It was really scary for him because I wasn’t waking up, usually when I faint, I come around quite quick after it, but I was out cold, he thought I was dead”

Related News

ennis toastmasters 18-11-23 organising committee 1
Ennis Toastmasters celebrate 50 years
cillian murphy gate
Rural areas avoiding Airbnb clampdown 'really flawed'
st flannans flood
Confidence expressed that Ennis is 'well protected from flooding' in wake of Midleton devastation
fr richie keane pj ryan 3
Holy confusion over ownership of Cratloe road
Latest News
old ground
Turn Black Friday green with Flynn Hotels
limerick greyhound race
€30,000 up for grabs In WillWeGo.com Irish St Leger Final at Limerick
image002 (1)
Deirdre Masterson and New York Tenors set for Christmas show at Dromoland Castle
Photo of Ennis’ Patritia Coote scoring taken by Helen McQuillan
Ennis RFC roundup: Senior women defeat UL Bohs
Official Opening of FASD by Anne Rabbitte Minister of State for Disability in the Dept of Health & Dept of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth-6_10x8_Final Edit
Gort farmer charged with assault for throwing cow dung at Deputy Rabbitte
Premium
liam grant 2
Periodic speed limits outside schools in West & North Clare pushed
clonlara v kiladangan 19-11-23 aidan morairty cian colm o'meara 1
Clonlara gave it everything in Thurles & there's huge satisfaction in that'
sixmilebridge arena opening 27-10-23 joe cooney 1
'We're getting the brunt of it' - local reps frustrated by Oireachtas members on Broadford & Cooraclare
blake's corner bob singer
National support needed to progress improvements of North Clare road network for Walker Cup
Rental Property
Include cost rental units in social housing developments to attack rental costs - Green Cllr Grant

Subscribe for just €3 per month

If you’re here, you care about County Clare. So do we. Did you rely on us for Covid-19 updates, follow our election coverage, or visit The Clare Echo every week for breaking news and sport? The Clare Echo invests in local journalism and we want to safeguard its future in our county. By becoming a subscriber you are supporting what we do, will receive access to all our premium articles and a better experience, while helping us improve our offering to you. Subscribe to clareecho.ie and get the first six months for just €3 a month (less than 75c per week), and thereafter €8 per month. Cancel anytime, limited time offer. T&Cs Apply. www.clareecho.ie.

Subscribe for just €3 per month

If you’re here, you care about County Clare. So do we. Did you rely on us for Covid-19 updates, follow our election coverage, or visit The Clare Echo every week for breaking news and sport? The Clare Echo invests in local journalism and we want to safeguard its future in our county. By becoming a subscriber you are supporting what we do, will receive access to all our premium articles and a better experience, while helping us improve our offering to you. Subscribe to clareecho.ie and get the first six months for just €3 a month (less than 75c per week), and thereafter €8 per month. Cancel anytime, limited time offer. T&Cs Apply. www.clareecho.ie.

Scroll to Top
Enable Notifications for the latest news and updates OK No thanks