Three young children have been praised for potentially saving their mother's life after she was knocked out during a seizure.

Chloe Bell, nine, brother Jake, six, and sister Lily, two, swung into action when mum Emma collapsed and hit her head as they enjoyed a lazy Sunday morning.

Emma has epilepsy and functional neurological disorder and the children had been told what to do if she had a seizure when there was not another adult around.

But this was the first time she had been knocked unconscious as a result of dropping to the floor, and Emma said afterwards she had had no idea whether the youngsters would manage to remember and follow the instructions.

Emma, who has no recollection of the incident before waking up in hospital, said: "They've always been told told if this happens to Mammy, ring Nanna or if you can't get Nanna ring 999.

"They potentially saved my life. They are heroes. You don't like to think about what could have happened if they weren't there.

"They potentially changed everything by doing what they'd been taught to do."

Their heroic actions came on what began as a quiet morning for the Egremont family.

Emma, who had been unwell since mid January, was feeling much improved. Her parents, who live next door, had been helping her around the house while she was unwell but that morning she decided to let them have a lie-in and get the children up and fed by herself.

But as she walked across the room, she suffered an absence, which led her to drop to the floor, hitting her head on the way down, which rendered her unconscious.

Remembering what they had been told to do, the children swung into action, with Chloe summoning help from her grandparents while Jake stayed with Emma, talking to her to reassure her. The Bookwell Primary School pupils' youngster sister also played her part, helping to cover her mum with blankets to keep her warm as she "slept" and giving her toys to comfort her.

Emma's mum, Pauline Bell, called 999. And when paramedics arrived, Chloe, who is usually squeamish about medical procedures, helped them check her mum over, assisting with taking her blood pressure and placing the clip on her finger to check her stats.

Emma had had eight seizures by the time she was taken to Whitehaven's West Cumberland Hospital. She spent several hours receiving treatment and monitoring before being discharged later that day.

Pauline said: "I think they were brilliant, they really were."

A North West Ambulance Service spokesman said: "It's really important that children are taught at an early age what to do in the event of an emergency and know what number to dial and their address.

"We love to hear stories of when children have gone above and beyond and been little superheroes when it comes to an emergency.

"It seems like these youngsters have done a fantastic job of looking after their mum when she was very poorly. A big well done to them and we hope Emma is now feeling much better."