National award for Northampton teen who fought to save grandfather

Lewys Boon, aged 16, also won the praise of a paramedic for the high-quality CPR he administered which, under different circumstances, would have given his grandfather Malcolm Billingham "every fighting chance of survival".

As a result of his efforts, Lewys - a former Cadet Sgt with Leicester, Northants & Rutland Army Cadet Force - is to receive a Royal Humane Society Certificate of Commendation.

Andrew Chapman, secretary of the Royal Humane Society, said: “This would have been a traumatic ordeal for anyone. Yet Lewys who is just 16 kept his head.

"He didn’t panic but took action which health professionals have since said would have given his grandfather the best possible chance of recovering.

“No-one could have done more and he richly deserves the award he is to receive.”

Lewys’s ordeal took place on the morning of 11 June last year when he went to visit his grandfather at his home in Collingdale Road, Northampton, and found him in bed and not breathing.

He phoned 999 to alert emergency services and then began administering cardiac pulmonary resuscitation chest compressions following instructions from the 999 operator.

However, when a paramedic arrived he realised that Mr Billingham was beyond help and declared him dead.

A senior paramedic has gone on record to say that Lewys had acted “as if he had been an experienced professional health care provider”.

He added that chest compressions administered by Lewys were “of the highest standard, and would have given his grandfather every fighting chance of survival should the circumstances had been different”.

Lewys was nominated following a recommendation from the Army Cadet Force Association. The date for the presentation has yet to be fixed.

The Royal Humane Society is the national body for honouring bravery in the saving of human life.

It was founded in 1774 by two of the day's eminent medical men, William Hawes and Thomas Cogan, whose primary motive was to promote techniques of resuscitation.