Heroic mum saves son stabbed by driftwood

Louise Pirret with Daniel (L) and Jake. Photo / Herald on Sunday

By all accounts little Daniel Pirret-Buik shouldn't be grinning cheekily at the camera and larking around home with his twin brother Jake.

Just over three weeks ago, the four-year-old lay unconscious in a reserve at Clarks Beach on the Manukau Harbour - his jugular vein pierced by a sharp piece of driftwood after a freak accident - his mother doing CPR on him after he collapsed in her arms.

Louise Pirret, a nurse, was chatting to friends at the park while their children played when she heard Daniel cry out.

He had been running with a piece of driftwood, tripped and the end pierced his chest just below his throat, slicing 12mm into his jugular vein.

After pulling out the stick, Daniel turned and ran to his mother.

Within two minutes the colour had drained from his face, his eyes had rolled back and he had stopped breathing.

With only a small incision mark and a little blood on Daniel's T-shirt as a clue, Pirret was at a loss to understand what was wrong.

But she and fellow mother Donna Muir, who worked as an intensive care nurse 10 years ago, knew Daniel's condition was serious.

While Pirret began CPR, Muir massaged the boy's heart and a third friend, Jo Ward, called 111, asking for paramedics and an ambulance.

When the women could not find a pulse, Ward made repeated requests for the Westpac helicopter, insisting Daniel's condition was critical.

After 10 minutes of CPR, and with Daniel beginning to froth at the mouth, Pirret was getting desperate.

With the jugular vein cut, blood was pouring into Daniel's chest cavity, causing a lung to collapse and gradually squeezing his heart until it stopped.

Between breaths, Pirret stripped Daniel after remembering the chances of organ survival are improved if the body is kept cool.

Finally, Daniel regained consciousness and tried to breathe on his own. Pirrett kept giving him air and asked Muir to keep massaging his heart, whispering to her son to let them help him breathe.

"He had lost so much blood I knew he would need some help."

First on the scene was the local volunteer fire brigade, who gave Daniel oxygen and put him on an IV drip. Ambulance staff and medics took over until the helicopter arrived. On board was a cameraman who captured footage of the battle to save Daniel's life. That footage will be shown on TV2's Rescue 1 on Thursday.

Producer Martin Cleave says the images are gripping and emotional.

Luck was on the little boy's side when the helicopter landed at Auckland's Starship hospital. Top paediatric cardiac surgeon Elizabeth Rumball was scrubbing up after an operation when Daniel was brought in.

After three units of O negative blood and an emergency x-ray he was rushed straight to theatre. Hospital support staff stayed with Pirret the whole time.

"There was no time for [blood] cross matching or consent forms," she said. "But their faces ... I could see from their faces that they didn't think he was going to make it."

And she knew enough about the medical terms the emergency staff were using to know her son's chances of survival were slim.

But Rumball managed to suture the bleeding jugular quite quickly and stepped out of the operation to give Pirret the good news.

Pirret and her partner Nico Buik spent three anxious days waiting for Daniel to wake from an induced coma, the fear of long-term brain damage in the back of their minds.

Clare O'Donnell, the cardiologist on duty at Starship when Daniel arrived, said his condition was critical.

"He'd lost a lot of blood. He was desperately sick. His mother did a fantastic job. The CPR at the scene was certainly very important."

O'Donnell said Daniel's complete recovery was "remarkable - we're all delighted".

Louise will spend today at home.

"Having both my boys in my arms is the best Mother's Day gift you could ask for. It's a miracle."

In the meantime, she wants to spread a message to parents about the importance of knowing CPR.

"That's what saved Daniel's life. It kept him going until help arrived. You don't have to be a nurse, just keep breathing into their mouths and watch their chest rise and fall."

* Rescue 1 screens on TV2 at 7.30pm on Thursday.