Baby starts choking on toast as parents race to hospital with minutes to spare

An 11-month-old who turned "limp and blue" after choking on a piece of toast was rushed to the by her panicked parents - with only minutes to save her life.

First-time Shane Keane and his partner Courtney Coffey were at home with their little girl Alaya last Saturday when she suddenly began shaking whilst nibbling on some toast. Dad Shane told the Neil Prendeville show on Cork's Red FM, that he was upstairs in their home in Mayfield, Cork, , when the horror unfolded.

He said that Alaya had suddenly fallen face down and began shaking. "I had cut the toast tiny. She has a load of teeth. Nearly all her teeth. Courtney had her sitting on the play mat and she was sitting behind Alaya and she started shaking. She picked her up and she was choking," he said.

"I heard the screaming and ran downstairs. In the space of 10 seconds, when I got to her, she was completely blue. I put her over my knee and started hitting her in the back. Because I did first-aid training. I did that maybe 15 times."

"I lifted her head and she was unconscious. I put her on the floor and started giving her chest compressions and mouth-to-mouth. In my last job, we did CPR training every year but last year we did CPR for children - Children's First Aid. Thank God we did that because we would have been lost."

The couple called for an ambulance, but knowing they had little time, Shane put his daughter and partner in the car and drove towards the hospital. Mid-journey, Courtney suggested they stop at the Ballyvolane fire station, where firemen surrounded Alaya and began working on her.

"She was completely limp in the car and my partner was continuing to smack her in the back. Her eyes rolled back a small bit," he continued. "We were passing the fire station and we saw the lads getting in to the truck and my partner said to pull in. We pulled in and she (Alaya) gave out a small cry."

"To be fair to the lads, they couldn't have been any more helpful. I told them my small one wasn't breathing and they took her off me straight away. She started crying a small bit and went unconscious again. They brought out a load of oxygen machines. They brought her in to the back. She fell unconscious two or three times. There was maybe 10 of them in the room with us getting machines ready and oxygen ready. The ambulance was there in five minutes."

Shane said that Alaya was then conveyed to Cork University Hospital. He told the show that they both stayed awake until 6am on Sunday morning watching over their child in fear something else would happen.

Thanking Ballyvolane Fire Station for their help in saving Alaya, Shane said: "Without them it could have been a different story this morning," he said. "She started coming around in the ambulance. They did a load of tests on her in hospital. It all came back that she was fine, thank God. She is back to wrecking the house again!"

Victor Shine, second officer with Cork City Fire Service, said Alaya was saved because of the quick-thinking of the family, and urged parents to do a first-aid and CPR course. He said: "In fairness to the parents they did an amazing job starting resuscitation. It was an amazing outcome as time is critical. I would encourage everyone to do courses on lifesaving. It is a life skill everyone should have."