A NINE-YEAR-OLD boy has been hailed a hero after ringing the emergency services and caring for his father who had a stroke while they were home alone.

Abercarn Primary School pupil Derry Wallace was at home with his dad Patrick Wallace, 42, on Tuesday morning when he fell ill.

Luckily for Mr Wallace, the youngster kept his cool, and tried to ring the emergency services on a mobile phone before realising there was no signal.

He ran to his neighbours and got them to call for an ambulance, and called his older sister to tell her to come quickly.

While waiting for paramedics and his sister to arrive, Derry held his father’s hand, propped a pillow under his head and talked to him to keep him calm.

He said: “My dad said he was going to the Post Office and when he came back at 11am I heard this large bang. I ran into the corridor because my dad had shouted my name and he was on the floor. He told me to call 999, and I tried to call them, but there was no signal.

“I ran to our neighbours and asked them to call the ambulance, and then I rang my sister Jordan and told her to come.

“Then I sat with my dad and was speaking to him, all his one side was shaking and his hand was shaking and I’ve never seen that before.

“I was holding him up, but he kept slipping, it all happened a bit fast. So I put a pillow under his head and was just looking after him, talking to him.

“He was a bit confused, he didn’t make much sense but I just kept talking to him. I was a bit scared. I have never seen anyone in my family have a stroke before and I didn’t really know what to do.

“I was really scared, it came as a real shock, but I thought if I fainted too, dad wouldn’t have any one to look after him so I had to keep steady.”

Mr Wallace is currently in a stable condition at the Royal Gwent Hospital. Derry was visiting his dad for the first time since the incident yesterday afternoon as the Argus went to press.

He said: “I’m very excited to go and see my dad. He doesn’t know I’m going to be in the paper and I’m going to surprise him with it!”

Derry’s big sister, Jordan Stephens, 23, said: “He’s a little hero. We are all really, really proud of him, he was so brave. When I got there there was no fuss from him, he gave the paramedics lots of space when they arrived, he was great. He’s a little diamond.”