Mum opens up about terrifying moment her toddler almost choked to death on blind chord

A mum has opened up about the terrifying moment she found her two-year-old son just moments from death after a blind cord got stuck around his neck.

Mum-of-four Karen Shelley has spoken out after her son Riley nearly hung himself. He was climbing down from a windowsill when the chord got caught around his neck.

Explaining that horrible moment to Mail Online, she said: 'He was sitting on the windowsill as I went out into the kitchen. I was only out there a little while when I noticed he had stood up.

'I told him to get down as it was dangerous, but as he went to step down on to the seetee he grabbed the blind cord that was hanging down behind the curtain.

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'He had hold of the cord on both sides of the loop as he jumped down it went round his neck and pulled him back up a little – then he was just hanging there limp.'

Karen shared a picture of the blind cord, encouraging parents to cut their own in a bid to warn others of the terrifying consequences of having loose blind cords in your house.

She said: 'On my way to medway hospital as my 2 year old son hung himself from the blind cord…if anyone has cords hanging and has children please just cut it…so what if it dont look nice!! You don't want to see what i did'.

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When she saw her son in life-threatening danger, Karen said that her legs gave in and she 'tried to crawl to him as fast as I could'. Fortunately, her 16-year-old daughter was also nearby, who ran past Karen and grabbed the little boy.

Karen explained: 'She lifted his weight off the cord and, by that point, I had managed to get over there and remove the cord around his neck.'

She added that the speed it happened was terrifying: 'It was literally a few seconds but the colour went out of his face immediately and his eyes were bulging.

'It's just something you never want to see – you're child just hanging there lifeless. It was awful. I honestly thought he had died.'

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Fortunately, little Riley was very lucky as the doctor said the injury could have been much worse if the chord had been a couple of inches lower and hit his windpipe.

She has now encouraged other parents to take extra care, to prevent any future tragedy. 'If something like this could happen while he was being supervised, it's scary to think of what could happen to a child when they're in their bedrooms or playing alone.

'I just want to warn others of the dangers and make sure they cut the cords or make sure they are tied up high at least.'