A four-year-old Kent girl passed a call handler's questions to her mum during a suspected stroke, then knocked on three doors for help. SECAmb has thanked her.

A four-year-old girl from Kent has been given a bravery certificate by South East Coast Ambulance Service (SECAmb) after she relayed a call handler’s questions to her seriously ill mum, then went door to door until she found a neighbour who could help.

Delilah was at home with her mum, Holly, her dad and her two-year-old twin siblings in March 2026 when Holly developed chest pain, struggled to breathe and could no longer feel her hands or feet, the trust said.

Her dad dialled 999. With the twins needing him, he handed the phone to Delilah.

On the phone to Medway

The call was answered in SECAmb’s Medway Emergency Operations Centre by Emergency Medical Advisor (EMA) Chloe. Delilah passed Chloe’s questions to her mum and told her what her symptoms were, which helped Chloe gather what she needed to send the right response, according to the trust.

Delilah has speech and language difficulties, and as talking on the phone grew harder for her, with Holly also struggling to speak, she gave the phone back to her dad and went to find help herself. She knocked on three neighbours’ doors before she found someone who could come and support the family.

The call was triaged as Category 2, and a crew reached the house within 15 minutes of the 999 call. Delilah stayed by her mum’s side while the crew assessed her. Holly was taken to Tunbridge Wells Hospital with a suspected stroke.

Six months on

Delilah went back with her mum, dad and siblings to SECAmb’s Paddock Wood Make Ready Centre to meet Chloe, Operational Team Leader Alex and Paramedic Charlotte. The three presented her with a certificate for her bravery, and she was shown round an ambulance and allowed to switch on its lights.

“We’re so proud of Delilah,” Holly said. “It was a frightening moment for all of us, but she listened to Chloe and helped me answer her questions. She stayed by my side while the paramedics took care of me and remained calm in a very upsetting situation. It meant a lot to come back as a family and recognise her bravery.”

Chloe said: “Delilah did an incredible job. She listened carefully and passed my questions to her mum, helping us understand what was happening. It was lovely to meet her and her family in person and present her with a certificate for her bravery.”

What it means for you

SECAmb answers 999 calls from Sevenoaks and the surrounding villages, and the trust does not say where in Kent Delilah’s family lives. A suspected stroke is a Category 2 call, which carries a standard of an 18-minute average response (SECAmb, response time targets). The crew in this case arrived inside 15 minutes.

Response times in the Sevenoaks postcodes are often slower than that. Figures the trust released to us this month show TN13 to TN16 behind its own average for both of the most urgent categories of call: Sevenoaks ambulance times: up to twice the 7-minute target.

SECAmb covers Kent, Surrey, Sussex and part of north-east Hampshire and runs NHS 111 in Kent and Sussex. Membership of the trust is free and members get a newsletter with health tips and invitations to its events (secamb.nhs.uk).