Thanks from the heart!

YOU did grand, son: teenager Mark and Barry

Mark, 14, saves grandfather’s life
COOL-HEADED teenager Mark Barrow leapt into action when his grandfather collapsed at his Greenfield home.

The 14-year-old Saddleworth School pupil called 999 and carried out CPR on Barry Garner for 15 minutes until the paramedics arrived at the house in Higher Carr Lane.

Sixty seven-year-old Barry had complained of having a “funny do” when Mark and his five-year-old brother, Nicholas, stayed with them overnight.

Mark returned for breakfast from his paper round and 10 minutes later his grandfather had a heart attack.

Now Mark has been praised for the swift action that saved his grandfather’s life.

Mark’s mother, Janet Garner, said: “He was unconscious and my mother panicked, but Mark stayed cool and took charge.

“He has never had any first-aid training, he just did what the ambulance service told him to do over the telephone.”

Mr Garner was taken to the Royal Oldham Hospital where he was stabilised then transferred to Manchester Royal Hospital, where he is due to undergo heart bypass surgery tomorrow.

“It came completely out of the blue, my father had no history of heart problems, and I’m very proud of the way Mark acted,” said his mother.

“I turned up just as the paramedics arrived, Nicholas was crying, and they told me my father had had a massive heart attack.

“Mark did something a lot of people wouldn’t be able to do, and without him my dad wouldn’t be here.

“My dad dotes on his grandchildren and he is very proud and very grateful to Mark.”

Mrs Garner added: “The doctors and consultants at both hospitals keep coming over to shake Mark’s hand, and told him his grandfather wouldn’t have survived without him.”

Now Mark and some of his family and friends plan to do a first-aid course so they know what to do in the event of another emergency.