Mum's emotional visit to thank colleagues Jackie and Chris for saving her baby's life

Asda customer Lucy Barkham made an emotional visit to our Worsborough supermarket to thank our colleagues Jackie Walker and Chris Nelson for saving the life of her baby Ronnie who stopped breathing while the family was shopping there.

Jackie, who's 62 and a grandmother of seven, said: "It was great to see Ronnie again. The last time I saw him he was such a wee poorly baby, but now he's a rosy-cheeked little chunk.

"Lucy was looking great too. After seeing them all terrified and upset it was great to see a happy wee family.

"The day Ronnie stopped breathing was a day he won't remember, but one the rest of us won't forget."

Lucy was shopping with her partner Calum and children Ruby, who's seven, and three-year-old Roman when she noticed one-year-old Ronnie going blue in his buggy – it turned out he had suffered a febrile convulsion and had swallowed his tongue.

Checkouts colleague Jackie, who's worked at the store for three years, said: "One of my colleagues rushed down to me saying there's a baby that had gone blue and did I know what to do.

"I asked Calum if I could take the baby from him as he was just limp and not breathing. I turned him upside down and patted him on the back, but nothing was happening. So I put my fingers in his throat to see if there was anything stuck, but I couldn't see anything. I gave him another whack on the back and then Chris took over and thumped him on the back too.

"We got him breathing again for about two minutes but then he stopped again for a few seconds. He started again just before the paramedics came and took over. It was such a relief that he started to breathe again, it really was.

"At the time the adrenaline just took over and I knew I just had to get things done. It was afterwards that I was a bit shaky. Chris was so calm throughout it all too; he was great.

"The whole incident took only five or six minutes, but it felt a lot longer. After Ronnie was taken to hospital I just went back to my checkout.”

Twenty-seven-year-old Lucy, who goes shopping at the store every week, said her family had nothing but praise for Jackie and Chris. She said: "We can't thank Jackie and Chris enough for what they did that day; they saved Ronnie's life. They were so quick and everyone there was so understanding.

"We were at the end of our shop and we were just getting our last bits when we noticed Ronnie shaking in his pushchair and I just shouted for help as I didn't know what was happening.

"My partner got him out of the pushchair and then Jackie took over while another colleague called for an ambulance

"I was beside myself at this point as Ronnie has gone blue in the face; I thought he was dying. It was so frightening. One minute he was fine and the next minute he was shaking. It turned out he'd had a seizure and had choked on his tongue. It was a really scary time for everyone."

Lucy went with him in the ambulance to Barnsley Hospital where he was found to have an infection in his throat which has caused him to have a high temperature and a seizure.

Lucy said: "He was sent home the same night and now he's fine. He's back to being a little terror."

Store manager Tom Dragisic has nominated both Jackie and Chris for Asda service superstar awards, saying: "We are so proud of them, they are genuine lifesavers.”