Sandra left her daughter in the bath for seconds. When she returned, she was 'face-down and blue'

When Sandra Fleming felt her toddler son Liam pull at her leg, she instantly knew something was terribly wrong.

The mum, then living in south-west Sydney, rushed into the bathroom, where she'd left her nearly one-year-old daughter Ashley just seconds earlier.

Walking to the cupboard around the corner from the bathroom door to grab both kids a towel, she never imagined the scene she'd return to.

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"She was face-down and blue. I immediately bundled her up and raced out of the house, laid her down on the lawn and started CPR," Sandra told 9Honey.

"But I was so stressed and panicked I wasn't doing a good job of it. Luckily I'd made enough noise that the neighbours came across to help."

Those neighbours included three swim school instructors all well versed in CPR, and another man, who helped under their instruction.

Someone called an ambulance, and within 11 minutes of receiving that call, a CareFlight helicopter and crew had landed in a nearby paddock, ready to assist.

The crew placed Ashley in an induced coma and flew her and a distraught Sandra to The Children's Hospital at Westmead.

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There she remained in a coma until doctors woke her four days later, on her first birthday.

"After she woke, she spent another seven days in hospital and today she's a happy, fully functioning 13-year-old," Sandra shared.

"She has a slight learning delay and ADHD, but it's a far better outcome than we thought. We were told to expect her not to wake up, and if she did, that she'd have severe brain damage."

Sandra says without CareFlight's assistance that day, it could have been a different outcome.

"There's no doubt they made a massive difference in her recovery. Everyone on the day worked so hard to help her. CareFlight are one of the biggest pieces to her puzzle," she said.

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"Without services like that, too many people wouldn't be with us."

Although Sandra had taken a first aid course which covered CPR just months before, she said the panic took over.

On hearing the not-for-profit aeromedical charity are set to launch a Baby Emergency Course nationally from June, Sandra felt compelled to urge anyone to ensure they had these skills to draw from in an emergency situation.

Saying she believed CareFlight would empower parents to feel more confident than she had been in using CPR.

"Definitely do the course, without a doubt it will help you," she urged.

The course will run in each capital city from June-February, 2024, with emergency education aimed at parents and carers of infants, toddlers and pre-schoolers, run by CareFlight's nurses and paramedics, and with funding from Nurofen.