Woman hailed a hero for keeping 12-year old boy alive after his heart stopped four times

Ireland: A young woman has been hailed a hero after keeping a twelve-year old boy alive after his heart stopped four times.

The boy's father today broke down in tears as he praised the young woman for saving his son's life.

Quick-thinking Amanda Begley, 20, from Limerick, Ireland dashed to the boy's aid after he collapsed face down in a field outside her home on Sunday night.

Ms Begley, who trained in first aid last year, turned the boy on his back, dialled 999 and gave paramedics her location before she then performed CPR on the boy for about twenty minutes until an ambulance crew arrived.

Glen Carey, 12, underwent heart surgery in Crumlin Children's Hospital, Dublin at 1am today.

His family are praying he will make a full recovery.

It's believed his heart stopped at least four times, but he was dramatically brought back to life by Ms Begley and later by paramedics.

His heart stopped a further two times in hospital, his father said.

Glen's father, Mike, was emotional as he thanked Ms Begley for keeping his son alive until he was taken to hospital by paramedics.

"She saved his life," he told the Irish Mirror.

"He's still in a very serious condition.

"He's still in the ICU (Intensive Care Unit).

"He passed away twice up here and they revived him, they brought him back.

"They bypassed his heart and he's on the life-support machine.

"We were just in with him.

"They are going to switch the heart back on tomorrow.

"They performed keyhole surgery on his heart at one o'clock this morning.

"So far it is a success, and we won't know more until tomorrow."

He added: "Only for that young girl being there he wouldn't have made it so far.

"I owe a lot to her.

"She's fantastic.

"She is a hero.

"Glen is still here."

On Monday, the boy was transferred from University Hospital, Limerick, to the children's hospital in Crumlin, Dublin, for life-saving heart surgery.

Mr Carey said his son has been in a medicated coma for the past three days but was showing signs of recovery as doctors started to wake him up.

Doctors plan to take him off life support tomorrow to see if he can breath independently.

"His legs and his knees started moving this morning and he tried to open his eyes," said Mr Carey.

"The doctors have him on medication to keep him knocked out.

"We are just hoping when they switch back on his heart tomorrow that it is a successful operation.

"It's the life support machine that's keeping him alive at the moment.

"But, only for that young girl keeping him alive, he wouldn't have got this far.

"It's looking good.

"Everything is looking good at the minute.

"The doctors have told us that the first 72 hours are critical.

"They were talking about a lack of oxygen being sent to the brain and the amount of blood getting to the brain as well, so we don't know at this stage, it's too early to tell.

"The next twenty-four hours are going to be critical."

He broke down in tears adding: "I just want that girl to know that Mike and Norma would like to thank her very much for what she had done for my family."

Ms Begley said today she just wanted the boy to make a full recovery.

"It all happened so fast," she said.

"I was sitting in my garden and he just passed by and he hit the ground, he was face down.

"So, I ran over to him straight away.

"I put him on his back and his phone was ringing so I took it out and it was his mother ringing, so I answered it and told her to come straight away.

"Then I just started CPR.

"They think there is a good chance he is going to wake up."

"I started pushing down on his chest and I was talking to the ambulance crew.

"I just told them what had happened and where to come to and I told his mother where to come too.

"I can't even remember what she said.

"It all happened so fast."

"They didn't take him away straight away.

"They continued working on him there.

"There was three ambulances, a Garda car and another (ambulance) car.

"They were working on him for a while inside on the field.

"His sister told me the doctors said that he was dead and that aid brought him back.

"He was dead in the field but I didn't know he was actually dead until his sister told me."

"He was very cold, he was freezing.

"I just kept focusing on him.

"I learned CPR in the CLASP (Community Leadership Arts & Sports) course in the LEDP (Limerick Enterprise Development Partnership).

"It was lucky I learned it."

Amanda's personal Facebook account has been flooded with messages of praise from her friends and neighbours and Glen's family.

"They are saying that they are proud of me and that I saved the boy's life and that I should be proud of myself. I don't know how I feel about it yet. I think I'm still in shock."

"When I know that (Glen) is fully alright, that's when I'll be alright. It was just a natural reaction, I didn't think about what I was doing. I can't even remember it. I just kept going. I wasn't really thinking. After every few minutes he was gasping for breath. It was frightening. I lit a candle for him last night."

"It's just as well I was out in my garden at the time," she added.

Glen's brother in law, Eamon Gallagher added: "It's shocking to be honest with you. The doctors in the Regional Hospital (Limerick) thought he had an enlarged heart. I know that last night (doctors) said he had a very irregular heartbeat and that the left-hand side of his heart was deflated.

"They had to run a pipe around (the heart) and back in again just to get it pumping. Apparently the doctors are fairly happy with the way the surgery went, but they won't know how successful it was until tomorrow."

Glen's sister, Helena, said: "Amanda Bentley saved my brother's life.

"Everything is going good so far.

"(The doctors) were worried about the oxygen in his brain, but he's starting to wake up and they have reduced his medication and he's starting to come around."

She added: "He's not fully awake but he's getting there.

"He's after getting bypass surgery done.

"Amanda is a life-saver.

"She's a hero alright.

"His heart was enlarged and there wasn't enough oxygen going to one side of it.

"We knew nothing about it until it happened to him.

"He's very lucky to be alive."

"Only for Amanda Begley, he wouldn't be alive," she added.