Crawley teenager given major honour after saving mum’s life

Jasmine Dean, 17, was at home with her parents on the afternoon of March 27 this year when her mother, Jayne, who had been complaining of feeling unwell for some days, collapsed and stopped breathing.

Jasmine was called by her father to help, and while he called an ambulance, she immediately began the gruelling task of administering CPR which she kept up for around ten minutes until help arrived.

Now, although it was the ambulance crew who finally restarted Mrs Dean’s heart, Jasmine has been credited with saving her life and has been awarded a Royal Humane Society Resuscitation Certificate.

Speaking as he announced the award Andrew Chapman, secretary of the society said: “In situations like this is it absolutely essential that CPR is started as soon as possible if it is to be effective. In this case it was started almost immediately meaning that when the ambulance arrived Mrs Dean was in the best possible condition to be resuscitated.

“It was a harrowing situation for Jasmine but she kept up the exhausting process of administering CPR for around ten minutes and which played a major part in her mother surviving. She richly deserves the award. She’s a daughter her parents must be incredibly proud of.

“This is another case which emphasises the value of as many people as possible learning how to administer CPR. I’m sure that most people when they learn it hope they’ll never be called on to put it into practice. But, as this case shows it can, as it did here, make the difference between life and death.”

Mr Chapman added: “We are always anxious to receive nominations from anyone who knows some-one who has saved a life and who they believe merits an award from us. We suspect quite a few people responsible for acts of bravery and life-saving don’t always get put forward for our awards and as a result don’t get the public recognition they deserve.

“If any readers know of any-one they think should receive an award they can submit a nomination using the form found on the Royal Humane Society’s website.”

The roots of the Royal Humane Society stretch back more than two centuries. The Queen is its patron and its president is Princess Alexandra. It is the premier national body for honouring bravery in the saving of human life.

It was founded in 1774 by two of the day’s eminent medical men, William Hawes and Thomas Cogan. Their primary motive was to promote techniques of resuscitation.

However, as it emerged that numerous people were prepared to put their own lives at risk to save others, the awards scheme evolved, and today a variety of awards are made depending on the bravery involved.

The Society also awards non health care professionals who perform a successful resuscitation. Since it was set up the Society has considered over 87,000 cases and made over 200,000 awards. The Society is a registered charity which receives no public funding and is dependent on voluntary donations.

It was one of a select number of organisations to receive a donation from the Patron’s fund which was set up to acknowledge work done by organisations of which the Queen is the patron, to mark her 90th birthday.