A calm pre-schooler has been hailed a hero by his mum after he twice leapt into action to help save his baby brother’s life.

Harry Pettifor suffers from severe breathing problems after being born with a rare genetic disorder.

He was born with Treacher Collins syndrome leaving him with a narrow airway and small chin which means he must breathe through a tube in his neck.

But just two weeks after coming home from Addenbrooke’s Hospital in Cambridge, where he had been since his birth on November 29, the five-month-old twice pulled out his life-saving tube.

Fortunately, brother Charlie, three, and his mum, Samantha Gifford, were able to work together to save his life.

Miss Gifford, of Abbey Meadow in Sible Hedingham, said Charlie was “fabulous” throughout the terrifying incidents, which began last Monday at about 6pm.

She said: “It had just been a normal day. Harry was fine, he was playing with his toys.

“I had just popped outside for two minutes but when he hasn’t got his tracheostomy in he sounds like he’s being strangled. I came in because I knew what the noise meant. I found him with the tube hanging out of his neck, he had gone floppy and he’d gone blue.”

While Miss Gifford put the tube back in Harry’s neck and began blowing, Charlie called his dad Neil Pettifor, 45, who was at work.

She said: “I was panicking and upset, but Charlie started calming me and kept telling me to stay calm. Because I was resuscitating him, Charlie knew what to do.

“He rang his dad and told him that Harry needed an ambulance.

"He did everything for me.

“He also rang my mum and dad, who live just down the road.”

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