Schoolboy treats burned mum

Ten-year-old Michael Hunter is a typical schoolboy – runs everywhere, always grinning, action packed! But when faced with a real-life emergency in his own home, the St John Ambulance Badger from Newcastle transformed into a cool calm expert, and saved his mother from serious injury.

Michael used his first aid knowledge, gained through his weekly meetings with the Badgers at St John Ambulance Northumbria, to treat his mum when she was burned by hot chip fat at their home in Newcastle – and his cool-headed bravery and skill earned him a Young Achiever Award, presented at Buckingham Palace by the Princess Royal recently.

Mum Denise went with her son to London for the ceremony, and said: 'I'm so proud of him – and he was so excited! He thought it was a joke at first when we told him he was going to Buckingham Palace to get an award from Princess Anne, but once he realised we were telling the truth he was buzzing for weeks.

The young first aider was looking forward to his favourite chips for tea when Mum Denise was splattered with boiling hot fat from the fryer. Alerted by her screams the plucky youngster ran straight to the kitchen and became his mum’s saviour.

Denise said: 'It was agony and I just froze – I didn't know what to do. But Michael was brilliant. He knew exactly the right action to take, he cooled the burn and covered it and summoned help. He was calm and wonderful.

'Now I just have a small scar on my arm where it happened, but the doctors told me that if Michael hadn’t done what he did my injury would have been really terrible. I am so very proud of him.'

The awards are presented to children and young people who have shown exceptional courage or determination to achieve the remarkable. Denise said her ten-year-old hero certainly deserved the accolade.