Two teenage brothers have been praised for saving the life of their neighbour found hanging in a garage.
Gabriel and Jack Walker gave life saving CPR and first aid after the traumatic incident near their home earlier this year.
Gabriel, just 14 at the time, was preparing for bed when he heard a woman screaming for help.
After telling his parents, he and Jack, then 15, went outside and were thrust into a horrific scene – a group in a neighbour’s garage gathered around a man on the ground.
Gabriel, who had learned St John Ambulance first aid at army cadets, gave chest compressions while another neighbour gave rescue breaths.
Jack, also an army cadet, took over communication with the 999 operator.
After several minutes of CPR the man began breathing.
In case he had broken his neck, Gabriel kept him on his back but with his head supported and airway open.
The brothers have been praised for their courage in this most harrowing of emergencies and will be among the nominees and finalists honoured at St John Ambulance’s Everyday Heroes awards, held at the Hilton London Bankside this evening.
They will be celebrated for their bravery, courage and lifesaving skills at the annual event which honours individuals, volunteers and teams who step forward in their communities and in the moments that matter to help loved ones, colleagues, customers or even strangers in need.
Also attending will be super gran Jeanette Harman who jumped out of a plane for a 70th birthday skydive before saving the life of an instructor after a crash landing.
Video shows thrill-seeking Jeanette enjoying her tandem skydive before giving a thumbs up after landing safely.
But her excitement turns to horror just seconds after the video ends.
As she watches members of her skydiving party begin to come into land she realised something was terribly wrong with one tandem.
Jeanette said: "He was coming down and I thought he's getting too close to the car park.
"He was trying to keep his feet off the ground because he was going too fast. He was being dragged along the ground and then hit a wooden fence and just kept going. The momentum just kept carrying him.
"Then he just stopped and was quite still."
St John Ambulance advanced first aider Jeanette went straight into auto pilot.
"I told my partner to grab my first aid bag and I ran over to the man," said Jeanette.
"I was calling to him 'are you alright?' and he wasn't responding.
"When I got to him I could see he was bleeding badly from his left femur. I knew we had to stop the bleeding urgently because you can bleed out within four minutes.
"Other people came from nowhere. One man put his knee in the patient's groin to apply pressure and try and stop the bleeding. I gave him a tourniquet to help. Meanwhile I kept applying pressure to his leg.
"We could see he had lost all of his skin on his legs and he was floating in and out of consciousness. He kept shouting 'my leg!, my leg!'
"His breathing then changed and someone produced a defibrillator and we got it ready to use."
Little did Jeanette know that the instructor had suffered a serious head injury, broken collarbone and wrist and possible spinal injury and time was critical.
She treated the patient for a further 20 minutes before the air ambulance arrived at Hinton Skydiving Centre.
The Liverpool FC fan added: "When the air ambulance arrived the doctors just got him out of there as quick as possible.
"I knew it was quite bad and didn't think the man would live. I didn't want bad news but my partner called for updates."
The instructor spent eight months in hospital and was discharged in March this year. He is undergoing further rehab.
Jeanette, from Weedon, Northamptonshire, said: "Apparently it was touch and go for a couple of weeks but he's out of hospital now.
"At the time the training kicks in and that's all you think about. This is the process I've been taught. We needed to act together as a team."
As well as recognition for young people, Everyday Heroes also rewards the kindness of strangers, colleagues and St John volunteers in three other categories: Community Hero, Workplace Hero and Volunteer Hero.
Now in its eighth year, the awards will be hosted for the second time by Reverend Richard Coles, celebrity vicar and one half of 80s band The Communards.
For more information visit sja.org.uk
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