IPSWICH mum Louise Gregory today thanked town centre shop staff for dashing to her aid after her two-year-old son was convulsed by fever.Louise Gregory, who is married to former Town player Neil Gregory, praised staff at Debenhams on Cornhill who helped her when her son Joe, began to have a febrile convulsion.

AN Ipswich mum today thanked town centre shop staff for dashing to her aid after her two-year-old son was convulsed by fever.

Louise Gregory, who is married to former Town player Neil Gregory, praised staff at Debenhams on Cornhill who helped her when her son Joe, began to have a febrile convulsion.

The convulsions are caused when young children's bodies overheat and they have not yet developed the ability to control their own temperature.

Mrs Gregory said the condition is common amongst youngsters and she recognised the symptoms as her eldest son Alex had also had fits.

Joe, who was born seven weeks prematurely, had been suffering from a cold when he had the fit and Mrs Gregory said: "When little ones are under the weather and have a temperature, if it goes up very quickly their body can't control it and they have a fit."

Mrs Gregory told how she and her husband, former Ipswich Town footballer Neil, were shopping in Debenhams when they realised Joe was showing signs of starting to fit and started to leave the shop so they could get to a chemist.

But just as they were leaving, the fit developed and they had to treat him straight away.

"I just shouted that I needed wet towels as he was having a fit," said Mrs Gregory.

"We had to strip him off and get him onto the cold floor to try and bring his temperature down.

"The towels appeared really quickly, I don't know if they came from the people working nearby or if others came to help as well."

Mrs Gregory said she also wanted the opportunity to thank another shopper who helped.

"There was also a lady called Nicky who was wonderful. She ran to Boots to get some medicine and ran all the way back, she was so helpful and I had to fight to convince her to even take money for the medicine."

Mrs Gregory said the quick actions of the staff and Nicky helped her to keep the upset to a minimum for Joe.

"It is a fairly common thing to happen to children but a lot of people don't know about it, when it happened to my first son I completely freaked out.

"I really want to thank all the staff who helped and all the people who came up and asked if they could help us."

Nick Panayi, deputy store manager of Debenhams, said the first aiders who rushed to help were staff members Martin Keeble and Jo Sawyer.

He said: "The first aiders came to help and arranged for the emergency services to be called.

"They made sure the child was comfortable, could breathe and was in a position where he couldn't hurt himself.

"I feel very proud of them. They deal with incidents all the time, but not all are as serious as this. We just hope the boy is well."

Around three in 100 children have a febrile convulsion sometime before their sixth birthday.

Febrile convulsion can be caused by any illness that brings on a temperature.

Although some people may think the fits are like an epileptic fit there is no direct connection. A febrile convulsion is related to a high temperature and is not due to a brain abnormality.

Children usually make a full recovery and the fits are not dangerous.

It is unusual for a fit to last longer than five minutes. The child will look hot and flushed and may twitch or shake and they may be quite sleepy for some time afterwards.

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