A COUPLE have thanked paramedics and York Hospital medics for saving their baby’s life after a shard of glass slit his throat, cutting the windpipe and jugular vein.

Tasha and Mike Noble say it's only thanks to the swift response of ambulance crews and staff at A&E that Sonny survived a freak accident with a glass at their home in Burnholme, York, and has made a remarkable recovery. “They did a phenomenal job,” said Tasha.

She said they also wanted to warn other parents of the dangers posed if they accidentally left a glass out unattended, for example in the garden after a barbecue or in the home after going to bed.

The couple spoke out after returning with Sonny to the A&E department in happier circumstances last week to thank staff personally and show them how well he has recovered.

Tasha said she was at home with Sonny, now 17 months old, and her other children, Izzy, nine, and Eva, four, on a hot day in August when Izzy told her Sonny had found a glass and was standing with it in the doorway into the garden.

She was horrified but within a split second he had tripped in the doorway and fallen, and a shard from the glass had cut his throat.

She ran to him and found blood gushing from his throat. “I grabbed a tea-towel to try to stem the flow and grabbed a phone to phone 999, but I was shaking so much that I couldn’t dial and so ran out into the street, where a neighbour called the ambulance service,” she said.

The ambulance arrived within minutes, “although it felt like an age”, and rushed him to A&E, where 20 or more doctors and nurses were waiting.

A&E consultant Rawnak Jaibaji said that on arrival, Sonny’s skin had gone pale and his lips were blue. “The ambulance crew had done a brilliant job and had called us to let us know they had a very worrying case, and everyone was there to help when he arrived,” he said.

“Our first priority was to clear the airwaves and ensure he could breathe, and a tube that was small enough was found to create a tracheotomy.”

Sonny was then blood tested and given a blood transfusion to replace lost blood and then, when he had been stabilised, was transferred to Leeds General Infirmary for further treatment.

He said there had been a serious risk of Sonny going into cardiac arrest and it was “amazing” to see him looking so well.

Tasha said: “I’m very careful about safety and still can’t understand how Sonny came to find a glass, and I’m wondering if one had lain hidden under decking after a summer barbecue.

“I just want to warn other parents to be extra careful whenever they use a glass, and avoid ever leaving it anywhere that a baby or young toddler can find it.”