News, views and top stories in your inbox. Don't miss our must-read newsletter Sign up Thank you for subscribing We have more newsletters Show me See our privacy notice Invalid Email

A mum whose son has severe epilepsy has saved his life more than 50 times.

Two-year-old Joshua Piper has up to 15 fits a day – and mum Natasha has not slept properly since his first at just three months old.

After MRIs and other tests drew a blank, Joshua has only recently been diagnosed with Dravet syndrome, thought to affect around one in every 300 ­epilepsy sufferers.

Natasha said: “I could see my son suffering but we didn’t know why. But he’s so brave. His face shows how much pain he is in.

“But he doesn’t cry after ­seizures as much as he used to when he was a baby.

“It’s sickening my two-year-old child has got used to this.”

Natasha, 27, is now trying to raise funds to buy specialist equipment to alert her when a seizure is coming.

She had to take a training course in CPR – cardiopulmonary resuscitation – and has used her skills “too many times”.

She said: “Every time I give him CPR I shake with fear. I worry if I’ve done it right and get scared that I’ve hurt him.

“There’s too many times I thought I lost him.

“I haven’t counted the number of times I’ve saved his life, but it’s well over 50. It’s not something you really want to count – I try to forget it as best I can.”

Describing the fits Joshua goes through many times a day, Natasha said: “You can hear a gargling sound when he’s ­struggling for breath.

“He just lays there – he can’t move, walk or sit up. He loses every bit of his energy for up to 24 hours.”

Natasha, whose eight-year-old son Mason also has heart problems, said her world “came crashing down” when Joshua first fell limp in her arms as they lay on the sofa at home in Cardiff.

He stopped breathing and turned blue – and was saved by a neighbour after Natasha ran into the street screaming.

She said: “I still have nightmares about it. I dream Joshua is having a seizure and I wake up and he’s perfectly fine. Obviously it plays on my mind.”

Dravet syndrome is known to affect children’s development – although there is no sign of anything wrong before the first seizures.

Natasha fears Joshua may not reach adulthood.

She said: “He can’t talk and he’s nearly three.

(Image: Mirrorpix)

“He’s never said ‘mama’, which I find really hard to cope with. He can walk, but he’s wobbly and can’t balance.”

Not only do Joshua’s fits affect the toddler, but Natasha is also aware of the impact on his older brother.

She is racked by guilt that their regular trips to the University Hospital of Wales have disrupted Mason’s schooling, and she worries he has “missed out on his childhood” as the family rarely leave home over fears of another fit.

Natasha is holding fundraising events to reach the £1,500 target to buy a specialised watch to monitor Joshua for seizures and trigger an alert to her mobile.

The life-saving equipment is not provided by the over-stretched NHS due to the number of young epilepsy sufferers.

Desperate Natasha added: “You have no option as a mother but to get on with it and deal with it day by day.

“I’d give myself seizures for him not to have them.

“It eats me up inside – but I’ve learned now that there’s nothing I can do to stop it, so I just have to carry on.”