'Help me wake my mummy': Toddler by himself two days after mother's death

"Please help me wake my mummy."

These were the words heard by rescuers after a toddler spent two days stuck in a house by himself after his mother died of an asthma attack.

Mason Martin, 3, survived by eating a piece of cheese he found in the fridge after his mother Lydia Macdonald, 28, died in her bed, her inhaler in her hand.

The Scottish boy was discovered two days later by Macdonald's best friend, who had gone over to check on her after being unable to reach her on the phone.

"Please help me wake up my mummy," Mason was heard calling through the letterbox slot in the door.

"Despite (her asthma) she was always a happy, bubbly little girl," Macdonald's mother Linda told The Sun.

"By her teens she would be hospitalised at least five times a year with severe attacks."

Macdonald's death left Mason an orphan, after the sudden death of his father Bobby Martin two years earlier.

Martin had died of an overdose of heroin and diazepam.

"Lydia was devastated," Linda Macdonald said.

"She would show Mason photos of his dad every day and told him he was the biggest star in the sky watching over him.

"She struggled with her grief but Mason gave her a reason to carry on."

Mason is now in the care of his grandmother.