An emotional and terrified mum has issued a heartfelt appeal to parents everywhere to be extra careful after her two year old toddler was found hanging unresponsive from her hydraulic lift-up bed.
The distraught mum Charlotte Hames, 30, experienced every parents nightmare after she discovered her little angel Buddy George blue in the face and unresponsive after he got his neck stuck in the’ hydraulic “Ottoman-type” bed.
The horrifying accident occurred on Monday when the distraught mother faced a rush against time to save her young son when he was found not breathing, the brave mum who tried to revive him told reporters that little Buddy George was quickly rushed to Queen’s Medical Centre in Nottingham by ambulance were paramedics thankfully revived the tot , before doctors kept him in overnight as a precautionary measure.
Ms Hames and Buddy George’s father Anthony Ancliff, have decided to make their terrifying story public in the hope parents will keep their children away from the beds, which are known have bases to hinge upwards to make room for more storage space.
Ms Hames, from Kirk Hallam, Derbyshire, told reporters: “I was in the bathroom and thought Buddy had gone quiet so I shouted up to him but got no response. “I had a gut instinct something was wrong so rushed to our bedroom where he’d been playing and found him hanging by his neck from the bed’s lifting loop. He was blue in the face and not breathing – I was frantic.”
Meanwhile Mr Ancliff explained: “Charlotte grabbed Buddy and rushed him next door to my uncle’s house where they called an ambulance and started trying to revive him. “Charlotte called me at work saying Buddy had hung himself and wasn’t breathing. She was so hysterical I couldn’t make out what she was trying to say so I just got off the phone and drove to the hospital in a blind panic.”
The loving father who is grateful his young son is still with them added: “Our children mean everything to us and we couldn’t imagine carrying on if anything had happened to Buddy. That’s why we want to warn other parents about the potential danger caused by these lifting loops and remove them – don’t take the chance. “We don’t want anyone else to go through what we’ve been through this week.”
Meanwhile Derbyshire County Council, whose trading standards team is investigating the tragic incident, released a brief statement outlining the probable cause of the accident, saying the bed had a one-foot loop which is pulled to start the lifting action before the hydraulics take over, and requires someone of adult height and weight to pull it down.
The authority also revealed that they have already contacted the Bed Federation informing them about the incident and have called for the manufacturing of the beds and “the supply of similar products currently available” be suspended, so that they can be modified to remove the loop.