Ross McManus never does what he is told, according to his mother.

But his independent streak paid off when the 11-year-old ignored her reassurances about a headache and rang for an ambulance.

The decision saved Karen McManus' life. Unbeknown to either of them, she had suffered a severe aneurysm and was minutes away from death.

Recovering at home last night, after three weeks in hospital, Karen said: "It is one time I am really glad he chose not to listen to me.

"Ross had happened to be sleeping in my room at the time, because workers were busy in his," said Karen, from Chester-le-Street, County Durham.

"I woke with a really bad headache and told him I would be fine and it would go away.

"I told him there was no need to call the ambulance, but he went ahead anyway. I can't remember what happened from there.

Ross, a pupil at the town's Hermitage Comprehensive School, said: "My mother was making a strange sound when she breathed.

"I was a bit frightened of phoning 999 because I thought they may think I was playing a prank."

His sister, Debra Cox, who praised Ross, as well as ambulance and hospital staff, said paramedics arrived within minutes and took Karen to the University Hospital of North Durham, Durham City, before transferring her to intensive care at Newcastle General Hospital where neurosurgeons had to wait five days for her to stabilise before they were able to operate.

Claire Mullane, of Hermitage School, said: "The school is very proud of Ross.

"It is fantastic that, at such a young age, he could show such maturity and think so rapidly and do the right thing. It would be a challenge to a lot of us."