THE 10-year-old granddaughter of a Keighley woman who collapsed while at home stayed calm and made sure her gran got the emergency help she needed.

Brave Casey Kelly, who lives off Fell Lane with her grandparents and nine-year-old brother Leo, was fast asleep when her gran Linda Ingham fell seriously ill.

But as soon as her gran alerted her Casey was on the phone, first to Mrs Ingham's daughter, then her son-in-law. And Casey spoke to the ambulance call handler, describing her gran's symptoms over the phone.

Mrs Ingham, 50, said: "I think Casey did brilliantly. She stayed very calm, even though that's not normally like her at all!

"She did exactly what I asked her to do and when she was talking to the ambulance calls operator she was excellent."

Casey's grandfather, Keith Ingham, added: "Although she was scared and very upset at finding her nanna on the floor Casey didn’t panic and I’m very proud of her.

"With so many people falling ill, I think Casey is a great example of how young children can help when situations occur that need immediate action."

Mrs Ingham, who works as a local supermarket cashier, said she had been at home on the night of Tuesday October 30 when she started feeling unwell. At the time, her husband was away on work business, and both her grandchildren were in bed.

"A couple of days before I'd developed this pain down the back of my head and into my neck, which had lingered on," Mrs Ingham explained. "I'd thought it was just because of the position I'd slept in.

"But at about 9pm on October 30, I suddenly began feeling ill while in the kitchen.

"I was dizzy, hot and sweaty and felt like I was about to fall over. I went up to bed and lay down thinking it would pass but it got worse. I got pins and needles in my right arm and my left arm went numb.

"I had to crawl to the bathroom to be sick because I'd lost feeling in my right leg."

Lying on the bathroom floor she managed to call out and wake up Casey, who despite her shock quickly took charge and phoned her own mum – Jenny Kelly, Mrs Ingham's daughter – and her gran's son-in-law, who both live in Riddlesden.

Minutes later the ambulance service called Mrs Ingham's own mobile. Casey, who is a pupil at Ingrow Primary School, took the call then stayed on the phone with the ambulance call operator, explaining her gran's physical condition.

Mrs Ingham said it took about 10 minutes for her daughter and son-in-law to arrive, after which her grandchildren were both taken to a neighbour's house.

But she said it took more than an hour for the ambulance to arrive, describing this delay as "ridiculous."

"I was taken to Airedale first, by which time I was hypothermic because I'd spent so long lying on the bathroom floor," she said.

"Early the following morning I was moved to the stroke unit at BRI."

She said she came back to Keighley late in the afternoon of Wednesday October 31, and is now recovering at home.

"I've had a CT scan which came back clear, and I'm waiting on the results of an MRI scan," she said. "Until I've had those results through I can't drive or go to work.

"I feel really drained and lethargic. I've been told it could have been an infection, a blocked artery in my neck, or a blood clot. I've been given medicine to thin my blood."

Yorkshire Ambulance Service declined to comment when contacted by the Keighley News.