Playing video games may have just saved this teenager's life – here's how

People often speak of the dangers of children playing too many video games, probably because it is an undeniable rite of passage for each generation to be outraged by young people's choice of entertainment.

It turns out that actually being an avid gamer could save your life. Or at least it did in this one instance.

Aidan Jackson, a 17-year-old from Cheshire, was chatting online to a fellow gamer based 5,000 miles away in Texas when he suffered a seizure. His parents were downstairs and didn't know anything was wrong, but his friend Dia Lathora - who he's never met IRL - did.

She suspected an emergency when Aidan went abruptly quiet, and quickly googled the best number to call for the area. His parents only realised something was wrong when police cars appeared outside.

Aidan's mother Caroline told The Liverpool Echo:

I assumed they were in the area for another reason and then they ran up to the front door.

They said there was an unresponsive male at the address. We said we hadn't called anyone and they said a call had come from America. I immediately went to check on Aidan and found him extremely disorientated.

 

Lathora, the hero of the story, explained that it was hard to stay calm when she struggled to get through to emergency services from the US.

She said:

The most surreal thing was hearing his mum come upstairs with the medical team, hearing them talk to him, asking if he’s doing okay, saying that I had just called them saying he had a seizure.

I was really scared and worried but I'm glad I stayed level headed enough to call the emergency and get him checked out.

It goes to show that making friends online can have incredible benefits - even sometimes lifesaving ones.

HT: BBC

MORE: Homeless man screams in horror as ‘animal rights activists’ steal his dog in shocking video