Six-year-old saved great-grandad's life thanks to a jelly baby
A hero youngster saved his diabetic great-grandfather’s life by feeding him Jelly Babies.
Six-year-old Aiden Smith had gone to stay with Brian Clark, who has type two diabetes, when he had a hypoglycemic attack and was in danger of slipping into a coma.
It was the first time in three weeks that Aiden, a pupil at Bentley West Primary School in Walsall, had been able to stay with Brian as the 73-year-old had been suffering from health issues – and what great timing.
The quick-thinking youngster used a ‘finger-prick test’ to measure his great-grandfather’s blood sugar levels and realised they had dropped dangerously low, so grabbed Jelly Babies from one of Brian’s bedside draws and fed them to him.
The drama unfolded at Brian’s Walsall home last Saturday.
Aiden said: “I went to see grandad and thought he did not look well so I found the finger-prick machine and checked his blood sugar levels.
“I had seen grandad use that before so I knew what to do.
“When I saw how low his blood sugar levels were, they were on 1.0, I found the Jelly Babies he keeps in a draw next to the bed and gave him one.”
Brian’s levels eventually rose to a safe 3.4 on the test. Aiden added: “I also got him some Lucozade. He was much better after that.”
Aiden’s mother Hayley Farren, from Walsall, said: “It’s absolutely fantastic. I’m so proud of that little boy, how many six-year-olds can do that? He saved his great-grandads life.
“Aiden’s been poorly himself and was suffering from asthma attacks in December, so to step up at six and do what he did, it’s amazing. I’m just grateful he was there.
“Everyone in the family has been used to seeing grandad inject his insulin and we’ve always watched it and all know about it.
“We know Aiden has seen it but we never expected he would be able to go through this whole process to help his great-grandad.
“It’s funny that Aiden actually doesn’t like Jelly Babies himself, but he knows that grandad needed them and in that moment he was just thinking about grandad and helping him – nothing else.”
Hayley added: “He has the brain of a sponge, he soaks everything in and when needed he can use what he has learned. He told my mum the other day he’d like to be a paramedic.”
