A QUICK-THINKING toddler is being hailed a hero after getting help when his mother collapsed.

Natalia Anderson, 23, suffers from a rare condition, vasovagal syncope, which causes her to have blackouts.

She suffered her latest attack following a telephone conversation with her sister, Joanne. But Jake Anderson wasted no time in getting help and went straight for the phone.

Even though his baby sister, Lilly, was crying, Jake, who has only just turned three, kept his cool and pressed the redial button on the phone.

Mrs Anderson, who lives near Highfield Day Hospital, in Chester-le-Street, County Durham, said: "Because of my condition, we tried to teach him 999, and he has the numbers in his head all the time, but he finds it difficult to find them on the telephone, so we taught him to use the redial button in the hope that if I pass out, I have been on to someone who knows me."

Jake got through to his aunt, who arranged for help.

Joanne said: "I just picked up the phone and all I could hear was a little voice saying, 'help, help'. I realised it was Jake.

"He was saying 'my mummy's not very well, I can't wake her.

"I spoke to him and he became very calm and brave, he said that Lilly was crying, and I told him to go and check on her. He was fantastic."

Joanne, of Gateshead, ran next door to her mother's house after the call, and Jake's grandmother, who has a key to Mrs Anderson's house, got in her car and drove to Chester-le-Street.

When she arrived, she called medics, who brought her daughter round.

Mrs Anderson's condition affects her blood pressure, which stops her heart and causes her to faint.

It is not the first time Jake has come to the rescue of his mother. She collapsed last week, and the youngster knocked on a neighbour's door to get help.

Mrs Anderson said: "He is so smart to know what to do. I hate to think what would have happened to Lilly if he had not got help.

"He is my little soldier and has proven how clever he is by looking after me and his little sister."

During the day, Jake and his sister are now staying with their father's parents until Mrs Anderson's condition improves, while their father, Neil, 29, is at work.