Hastings mum wants to thank women who rescued her one-year-old son

Alice and Nick McKinlay pictured with Sabastian (top row); Thomas (left), Arlington and Olivia. SUS-210103-161906001Alice and Nick McKinlay pictured with Sabastian (top row); Thomas (left), Arlington and Olivia. SUS-210103-161906001
Alice and Nick McKinlay pictured with Sabastian (top row); Thomas (left), Arlington and Olivia. SUS-210103-161906001
A Hastings mum wants to thank two women who helped rescue her one-year-old son from a stream at Alexandra Park.

Alice McKinlay’s two youngest sons were taken to the park on Thursday, February 18, by her neighbour – who is in a support bubble with Alice and her husband Nick – while Alice dealt with a family emergency in London and Nick worked.

At about 3pm, the neighbour was in Alexandra Park with Sabastian in his pushchair and Arlington walking by her side when she lost her footing on the muddy paths. As a result, Sabastian’s pram rolled into the stream and onto its side in the muddy water.

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A mother and daughter who saw the incident happen rushed over and managed to remove Sabastian and the buggy from the stream.

Fortunately, Sabastian avoided serious injury thanks, in part, to a metal bar design on the pushchair that kept it from fully submerging below the water, and because of the quick-thinking of Alice’s neighbour and the two women who rushed over to help.

“I really want to thank these women for coming to the rescue,” said Alice, 32. “I know that ultimately my son was extremely lucky. The park was really busy that day and they pulled him from the stream.”

Alice said nobody took any names at the scene because of the shock of the whole incident.

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Sabastian was taken to Conquest Hospital where he was found to have small scratches on his face, but was otherwise uninjured.

Alice added: “We are just so thankful they took him out of the water so quickly.

“When I arrived at Conquest Hospital, the doctor told me these were extraordinary circumstances and my son was doing extremely well considering. Ordinarily they would keep a child in overnight after something like that but he was really lucky and we could take him home that evening. He was absolutely fine.”

Alice also praised her neighbour who she said ‘acted like a mother’ while she attempted to rescue Sabastian.

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She added: “She feels a bit bad about it but I told her that this could have happened to anyone – it could have happened to me, or Nick. She acted like a mother even though she isn’t one. She has been our absolute rock through this lockdown and we can’t thank her enough.

“We are extremely grateful to her and the mother and daughter who helped save our son.”

If you know the two ladies involved in the rescue, please email [email protected]

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