Meet Dan the human piggy bank

WHEN Allen Mentiplay asked his young son to look after his mum's money when he went away on a trip, he didn't exactly expect the toddler to take on the role of a piggy bank.

But the 14-month-old youngster found himself in a tricky spot after he decided to swallow a 20p piece and started to choke.

The little boy struggled to breathe for around two minutes and "turned blue" as his terrified mother rang 999 for advice.

Today Tara Mentiplay praised the emergency services and doctors at Edinburgh's Sick Kids Hospital after they rushed Danny to hospital and removed the coin during an operation.

She said if it hadn't been for their swift reaction, her son could have died during the "terrifying" incident on June 30.

Mrs Mentiplay said: "He must have picked the coin up off the floor. Next thing I knew he'd swallowed it and started to choke.

"I turned him upside down, patted his back, but nothing was budging it, so I phoned 999. I knew if I left it any longer it would be really serious.

"He was choking and I could see that he couldn't breathe. He went a greyish-blue colour and I was getting really scared. But the person on the end of the phone calmed me down and told me what to do.

"I sat down in the hall and put him over my knee and gave him five hard pats. Then by some miracle he suddenly swallowed it and started breathing."

Mrs Mentiplay, from Dunfermline, was instructed not to move her son until the paramedics arrived in case the coin moved and obstructed his airway again.

Little Danny was taken to Queen Margaret Hospital and then transferred to the Sick Kids, where he was x-rayed. Doctors discovered the 20p was lodged in the lower part of his throat, leading them to operate immediately to remove it.

Mrs Mentiplay said: "We had hoped that he'd fully swallowed the coin, but the x-ray showed that it was stuck in the middle of his throat. At about midnight they operated on him for an hour while he was under general anaesthetic. It made him a bit groggy and the whole experience was a scare, but luckily he's now recovering at home. He's just a bit croaky.

"I can breathe a sigh of relief now and smile at the thought of him acting as a human piggy bank, but it was the scariest thing I have ever experienced."

She said she wanted to thank all the staff that had helped her son: "I'm so grateful to paramedics and staff at the Sick Kids for making my wee boy safe. Without them, he could be dead. They did an amazing job."

Mr Mentiplay added: "I told Danny to look after Tara's money while I was away, but I meant him to put it in his piggy bank, not his tummy."