Jo (Johnee) Whalen HCPC Paramedic, BSc, RCUK

On a warm June evening, just after I’d put my son to bed, I became two people at once.

I was a Critical Care Paramedic with 13 years of paediatric emergency experience. I'd responded to hundreds of choking calls. I'd taught doctors, paramedics and nurses Advanced Life Support. I knew the protocols inside and out.

But I was also a terrified new mum, watching my 13-day-old daughter, Winter, struggle to breathe.

She'd was choking on mucus and milk. One moment she was fine. The next, she wasn't.

Every second felt like an eternity. My hands moved on autopilot — back blows, chest thrusts, airway positioning, rescue breaths, and finally suction. The skills I'd taught hundreds of times kicked in without thinking.

Winter started breathing again. She was safe.

But I wasn't the same.

In that moment, I understood something I'd never truly grasped from the ambulance: the absolute terror of feeling helpless when your child's life is in danger.

I thought about every parent I'd ever responded to. The ones frozen in panic. The ones who didn't know what to do. The ones who desperately Googled while precious seconds ticked away.

And I realised: most parents don't have what I had. They don't have 13 years of training. They don't have muscle memory from teaching life support courses and responding to emergencies. They're just hoping — praying — nothing bad will happen.

That's not good enough.

The next week, the Parent First Aid Branch of Project CPR was born. Not from a business idea, but from a desperate need to make sure no parent ever feels as terrified and helpless as I did — without the training to act.

Now I teach parents the same skills that saved Winter's life. Clear, practical, life-saving first aid. No medical jargon. No overwhelm. Just the confidence to be the calm, capable parent your child needs in an emergency.