Mum thanks lifeguards who came to girl's aid

Erin's mother, Danielle, said the lifeguards made the situation a lot easier to deal with

The mother of a three-year-old who had a seizure at the seaside has thanked three RNLI lifeguards after they stepped in to help.

Lois Kemp, 25, Katie Roscoe, 21, and Effie Kennedy, 16, responded when Erin started having a seizure on Mablethorpe beach on 21 August.

The toddler's mum, Danielle, 40, said the lifeguards made "a really scary" situation a lot easier to deal with.

"They took over the medical side, which was lovely because it meant I could just be there for Erin as her mum," she added.

'Stomach dropped'

Danielle, from Scothern, near Lincoln, said Erin first started having seizures when she was four months old.

"She's had about 60 seizures - ranging from fairly quick ones to longer ones requiring medical attention," she said.

Danielle said the family trip to the coast had started well, with the children enjoying ice creams and building sandcastles on the beach.

"Me and my mum were sat there chatting watching the kids play - it was really nice."

However, she said her "stomach dropped" when Erin started having a seizure.

"It's one thing dealing with her seizures at home in a safe space, but it's a completely different feeling dealing with a seizure in an unknown space," she said.

After laying Erin down on a blanket to make sure she was safe, Danielle said she started timing the seizure to check what intervention was needed.

She added: "It was really, really scary. I didn't know which way it was going to go."

At the same time, she said her mum raced off to the lifeguard hut to get help.

"They were so reassuring," she said of the lifeguards' quick response. "They gave her oxygen, they were checking her breathing and they checked her responsiveness and her circulation."

RNLI lifeguards, from left, Lois Kemp, Katie Roscoe and Effie Kennedy

Asked how Erin was doing now, Danielle said: "She bounces back really quickly and she is doing well."

She also praised her mum, Dottie Johnson, 64, for alerting the lifeguards.

"She's always got my back," she told BBC Look North.

The RNLI charity said the medical episode "exemplified the differing emergencies lifeguards deal with daily".

As well as carrying out water rescues, lifeguards are trained to give first aid and search for missing children on beaches.

"We will definitely go back to that beach, knowing that they are there to look after us if anything was to happen again," Danielle added.

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