London - A mother is an extraordinary thing. Take the woman whose toddler was caught on CCTV at Goodge Street Tube station being sucked on to the live tracks by a freak gust of wind.
Without a moment’s hesitation, she flings herself off the platform and hoiks the buggy to safety - just seconds before the arrival of an oncoming train.
Both the men involved - her companion, the clown who failed to apply the buggy’s brake in the first place, and a fellow passenger so lost in the music blaring from his headphones that he seemed oblivious to the entire drama - were as much use as a pair of chocolate teapots.
It’s a remarkable example of motherly instinct - that strange and indefinable sixth sense that kicks in when you have a child. A connection like no other. An invisible thread; light as gossamer yet as strong as steel.
And, as this woman’s actions show, it can make you invincible.
Watch the video closely, and it seems almost spooky. She comes out of nowhere, like something out of a sci-fi comic, moving at ten times the speed of everyone else around her.
Propelled by pure instinct, she has no thought for her own safety - just to save her baby, no matter what the cost.
Though I’ve never seen this magical sixth sense caught on camera before, I have experienced it myself, and you read about it all the time. All those mothers who take their sick children to A&E, convinced that there is something seriously wrong.
“It’s just a virus,” say the medics, and send them home - only for them to return later, sometimes on the brink of death.
It was the same indefinable something that saved my son’s life when he was around four months old. It was odd: he’d been “fussing”, as the health visitor put it, for a few weeks.
He was still feeding, but not with his usual gusto. A few gulps and then he’d fall asleep … only to wake with a start a few moments later.
We’d had numerous visits to the baby clinic. Each time, I was told he was fine: no temperature, no rash, no obvious signs of anything.
Perhaps I was struggling to cope? Was I depressed? Would I like a leaflet? I took to sleeping with him, so great was my anxiety. In the wee small hours, I watched him, his eyelids twitching, his face unusually pale.
Was I going mad? Surely all these professionals knew what they were talking about. But my whole being was on red alert.
The day he was hospitalised I took him, yet again, to the nurse.
Nothing wrong, she assured me. Then, seeing my pained look, she added, kindly: “The doctor has no free appointments, but if you want to wait I’m sure he’ll see you after surgery.”
I waited. The doctor, a wonderful man to whom I shall always be deeply indebted, examined him thoughtfully. Then he called an ambulance.
It was mastoiditis. I’d never even heard of it, but it used to be a leading cause of child mortality. It’s the result of an untreated ear infection - and, in fact, I had taken him to the nurse with what I had suspected was an ear infection when he was around six weeks old.
She had not prescribed antibiotics, and by the time it was diagnosed the infection had spread to his brain.
There was a rather terrifying operation, then a spell in hospital.
Ask any mother and I’m sure she’ll have a similar tale to tell. That’s why maternal instinct should be taught in medical school - and never ignored.
As for my son, we were extremely lucky and there was no serious damage. Just like the baby pulled off the tracks by this extraordinary, ordinary mom. - Daily Mail