Two young children saved their mother's life when she broke her neck and back after falling down the stairs.

Kerrie-Ann Blackmer's head was also badly gashed in the nasty fall, which left her unable to move.

But Kallum, six, and Abigail, four, woke up and rushed to help their stricken mum.

Kerrie-Ann, who credits her children with saving her life, said: "I don't know what I would have done if they had not been there."

Kerrie-Ann, who spent her 27th birthday strapped to a spinal board in Worthing Hospital, fell backwards down the stairs at her home in Nelson Close, Lancing.

She broke bones in her neck and back, and cut open her head on a radiator.

After a week in hospital Kerrie-Ann is now recovering at home.

She said: "It was about 6am and I had just got a glass of water from downstairs.

"I had reached the top of the stairs on my way back to bed when I blacked out and did a backwards somersault down the stairs. When I came round I was on the floor in a pool of blood and I couldn't move."

The fall woke Kallum who came to investigate and found his mum lying at the bottom of the stairs.

Kerrie-Ann said: "Kallum asked, 'Mummy have you fallen down the stairs?' and when I said yes he said, 'But it's your birthday!'."

Rather than bursting into tears or panicking, Kallum calmly woke his brother Charlie, two, and sister Abigail and told them to get dressed.

Four-year-old Abigail fetched a towel and put it on her mother's head to staunch the flow of blood while Kallum rang his grandmother.

When he could not get through he brought the phone to his mother and between them they dialled 999 for an ambulance.

Kerrie-Ann said: "Kallum was so good. He took Charlie into the other room and gave him some toys and some juice and made sure Abigail was all right as well."

As they waited for the ambulance, quick-thinking Kallum realised his mum could not move and was blocking the front door.

He went to the back gate and found something to stand on so he could reach the bolt to open it for the paramedics.

Kerrie-Ann's sister Katrina, 24, said: "If it hadn't been for Kallum, Kerrie-Ann could have bled to death because her head was bleeding so badly.

"He acted so calmly and better than most adults who would probably have panicked at the sight of all that blood.

"They both deserve an award for being so brave."

Kallum, Abigail and Charlie are now being looked after by Kerrie-Ann's mother, Jean Blackmer, in Portslade because Kerrie-Ann must spend the next three months in a neck brace and cannot lift or bend.

She said her blind spot is already worse than most because she is blind in one eye after falling over her dog 17 years ago and severing an optic nerve on a piece of glass.

The night before her latest fall Kerrie-Ann passed her essential care skills exams for St John Ambulance and was due for an interview at Worthing Hospital that day to train as a midwife.

She said: "Unfortunately I arrived early - on a stretcher."