Her mum was painting her nails, minutes later she was in a coma

A little girl was having her nails painted by her mum, until she collapsed before being put in a medically induced coma just minutes later.

Ella-May was sitting with her mum, Gemma, as she got her nails painted on October 26 last year, the first day of the half term, when she suddenly stopped breathing and collapsed. Gemma, a support worker from Ellesmere Port, immediately performed CPR while calling for an ambulance with her husband. They rushed to get help from their neighbour, who is a paramedic, until more paramedics arrived "within minutes".

The 30-year-old mother of three told of how her daughter was then placed in a medically induced coma. The five-year-old was taken to Alder Hey Children's Hospital, where a CT scan was carried out to determine if her brain or heart had been affected. The results revealed that the schoolgirl had experienced a cardiac arrest, resulting in a nine-day stay in the intensive care unit (ICU).

Ella-May endured a second cardiac arrest and several severe arrhythmias before doctors could find the right combination of medications. She was eventually weaned off the ventilator, transitioned from ICU to a high dependency unit for a couple of days, and later stayed in Ward 1C of the hospital for a full 30 days, reports the Liverpool Echo.

Gemma told the ECHO: "It was a rollercoaster. The day before the school had shut for half term. I helped out with the Halloween party in the night and it was then when we realised she was acting out of character. She was throwing herself around and screaming. She went to bed at 6pm that night because she was just exhausted.

"She woke up extremely tired the next day but we just put it down to tiredness. We didn't think it would be this serious."

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