In June 2023 four-year-old Alexander Dunn was on holiday with his family in Spain and was enjoying splashing around in the pool with his Dad, Ben. The father and son decided to have a go on the water slide when tragedy struck.

As Alexander’s Dad went down the slide he suffered a stroke and lost full use of his right side, the right side of his face dropped and he was unable to speak. Alexander swam the length of the pool, got himself out of the water and as his Dad was unable to get out of the pool he stayed by his side, realising something was wrong. Alexander then alerted a lifeguard by telling them he needed his mummy, he then spotted his Mum, Danielle, and ran to her telling her that “there is something wrong with Daddy, he looks really weird!”

Ben was then pulled from the pool, stabilised by emergency services and taken to hospital where he was initially put on a ventilator and remained in hospital for ten days.

Thanks to Alexander’s quick actions his Dad is recovering well and Danielle commented “I am so proud of his determination to overcome this! And my Hero, my little boy at only 4-years-old recognising a bad situation and dealing with it the way he did my heart just bursts! If anyone can take anything from this post, it’s to please, please, please encourage your children to learn to swim! Help them be safe in the water. Alexander has had swimming lessons with Fiona at Swimbabes since he was 5 weeks old, and if he was not as confident in the water this could have been a totally different situation!”

Alexander was awarded a Young Persons Certificate of Commendation from the Royal Life Saving Society UK (RLSS UK) and presented with his certificate by RLSS UK Mentor and Course Tutor Garry Hume and his swim teacher from Swimbabes Fiona Mellor.

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