In 2022 Victoria Crane was out celebrating her 27^th birthday at Victoria Park in Glasgow with her two children and a friend when her birthday celebrations were halted. An elderly man spotted a two-year-old girl lying face down in the pond.

Victoria, who is first-aid trained due to her job in care, raced over to the water and immediately put the young girl into the recovery position and began to rub her back. As she did so, the young girl started to bring up some fluid but remained unresponsive. Victoria then put her over her shoulder as she drifted in and out of consciousness.

As others tried to locate the young girl’s family, Victoria took the girls soaked clothes off and wrapped her in a jacket to try to keep her warm as an ambulance was called. Victoria monitored her breathing, which was still shallow, for approximately 20 minutes.

Just before the ambulance arrived Victoria noticed that she could no longer feel the young girl breathing and it was then that she began to perform CPR. Victoria explains, "After a couple of rounds of CPR, she started to make noise, like a groaning - and that's when the ambulance arrived with the oxygen. The whole time I was trying to support the girl's mum, she was really panicked."

The young girl was attended to by the ambulance crew for ten minutes in the park before being transferred to hospital. Just as the young girl was taken into the ambulance, Victoria heard her cry.

"Her cry was the most relieving sound. I knew she was ok. Then the ambulance crew came up to speak to me. They told me she was going to be okay and said I'd saved her life. That was an amazing feeling. The area of the park we were in wasn't busy, it was like I was in the right place at the right time."

Victoria wants to urge others to learn basic first aid skills, as you never know when you could help save someone’s life.

"I really do feel like she wouldn't have pulled through if I hadn't been there. I've done basic first aid training but I never ever thought I would have to use it. It's a life skill that everyone should have.

The young girl has recovered well thanks to Victoria’s quick actions and Victoria has since been nominated for the Scottish First Aid Awards after being nominated by her partner. The Royal Life Saving Society UK has also recognised Victoria’s bravery and quick thinking and awarded her with a certificate of recognition.

"Just having that basic set of skills like putting them in the recovery position, checking their airways and just staying calm in that kind of situation is really important. First aid courses really aren't expensive and I want people to hear this story and understand they could also save somebody's life with these skills." 

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