Retired paramedic heard 'shouts for help' before giving baby CPR

A retired paramedic told today how he helped saved baby boy who had ‘died for 15-minutes’ after suffering a cardiac arrest at Legoland Windsor.

Matthew Burns, 60, was at the attraction with his family stood at the coastguard HQ when a woman ran over screaming ‘help, my baby’s in trouble’.

Mr Burns over to find the baby ‘blue in the face and floppy’ – and helped another off-duty medic desperately try to revive the little boy.

They gave him CPR for 20 minutes until he started breathing again before paramedics rushed him to hospital for emergency treatment.

Speaking exclusively to MailOnline, Mr Burns, a father-of-three from Eastbourne, Sussex, said: ‘When I got to the baby boy, he was clinically dead. His was blue and floppy and he wasn’t breathing. We couldn’t feel a pulse.

Matthew Burns, 60, was at the attraction with his family stood at the coastguard HQ when a woman ran over screaming ‘help, my baby’s in trouble’

Mr Burns over to find the baby ‘blue in the face and floppy’ – and helped another off-duty medic desperately try to revive the little boy

‘We tried and tried and managed to get him breathing again.

‘Myself and the other paramedic were literally three seconds away from the child. It is a miracle that two medics were nearby at Legoland when this happened.

Mr Burns, who spent 40 years working for the ambulance service, was at the attraction with his daughter and her family when it happened.

He said the boy had been in a baby carrier strapped to his mother when he raced to his aid.

‘I’d been alerted by my son’s girlfriend who shouted over for help,’ he said

‘The other medic had got the boy out of the pouch and had laid him down on top of a bin.

‘It sounds bizarre but we needed a nice flat surface. I said to him ‘I’m a paramedic’ and he replied, ‘so am I’.

Mr Burns, a father-of-three from Eastbourne, Sussex, said: ‘When I got to the baby boy, he was clinically dead. His was blue and floppy and he wasn’t breathing. We couldn’t feel a pulse’

Mr Burns said: ‘I looked after the baby’s airways. Due to the fact that we were dealing with such a young baby I had to do mouth-to-nose initially’

He did the chest compressions while I looked after the baby’s airways. Due to the fact that we were dealing with such a young baby I had to do mouth-to-nose initially.

‘We carried on working on the boy until first aiders from Legoland arrived with the oxygen and a bag of masks and stuff we needed.

‘Just before the ambulances and police turned up, we got a pulse from the boy and he started to make some slight respiratory effort.

‘When we first got to him, I held up his little arm but it flopped down flat but when we later checked for a pulse his arm stayed up so at least we were getting some tone.

‘The ambulance took him on blue lights to John Radcliffe Hospital up in Oxford. There were about six policemen that turned up and cordoned off the area and took statements.

‘My focus had been on the baby. The mother was being looked after by other visitors while this was going on. She was distraught obviously and a bit shellshocked.

‘She hadn’t said what was wrong with her son, just that he was in trouble and there was something wrong with him.

‘He didn’t look good – and it was at least 15 minutes or so after reaching him that we managed to revive him.

‘My background was perfect for this situation, thankfully. I was in the ambulance service as a paramedic and got my anaesthetic qualifications but I was also the lead clinical educator and head of resuscitation at Lewisham University Hospital in South London.’

A 27-year-old woman from Witham in Essex was later arrested on Saturday on suspicion of neglect causing unnecessary injury. She was released on police bail until July 26

Mr Burns’ daughter Stacey Irwin wrote on social media: ‘Staff at Legoland were excellent getting the area cleared and soon the first aiders arrived with oxygen etc that assisted Matt and the other paramedic to continue saving this babies life’

A 27-year-old woman from Witham in Essex was later arrested on Saturday on suspicion of neglect causing unnecessary injury.

She was released on police bail until July 26.

Former Guardsman Mr Burns who retired from the East Sussex Ambulance Trust last year, added: ‘The baby seemed perfectly normal for its age and size, no signs of obvious neglect and no bruising that we saw.

‘I asked the mother to give me an update and she rang me from hospital and said the initial fear was the baby had suffered a hypoxic seizure but he’d had an MRI and there was no neurological deficit, which effectively means there was no brain damage.

‘From our point of view that was excellent because we didn’t know how long the baby had stopped breathing for. It goes to show that he was well oxygenated and well resuscitated.’

Mr Burns’ daughter Stacey Irwin told on social media how he saved the boy.

She described the family trip to Legoland as ‘eventful – and wrote on Facebook: ‘At the time Matt went to help the baby was essentially not alive, he was not breathing, had no pulse, totally blue and floppy!

‘He and another paramedic that also happened to be there both very quickly started CPR on the baby.

Legoland at Windsor has become the country’s most visited theme park in recent years, attracting 2.43million people in 2022 (file photo)

‘Staff at Legoland were excellent getting the area cleared and soon the first aiders arrived with oxygen etc that assisted Matt and the other paramedic to continue saving this babies life.

‘It was a long time they spent doing CPR – at least 20 plus minutes! Matt and the other man did the incredible job and managed to get the baby back breathing at the point the ambulances turned up.

‘Heroes don’t wear capes, but today Matthew most definitely was wearing that cape – talk about being in the right place at the right time. (He has had a phone call from the baby’s mum and the hospital are pleased with how the little boy is doing).

‘That’s the second time I have witnessed Matt bringing someone back to life (the last time was in our own home for grandad many years ago)!’

Legoland at Windsor has become the country’s most visited theme park in recent years, attracting 2.43million people in 2022.

In a statement a Legoland spokesperson hailed the actions of Mr Burns and the other off-duty medic and said: ‘We are extremely grateful to medically trained members of the public who provided immediate care, alongside our resort first aid team, until the emergency services arrived.

‘The guest left the resort in the ambulance for further treatment.

‘We’d like to thank the emergency services for their swift response, and our guests for their cooperation.

‘We will continue to support Thames Valley Police with their ongoing investigation.’

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