Thanks for postman who heard screams of Congleton woman

A woman has thanked her "hero" postman for coming to her aid when she collapsed screaming in pain at home.

Louise Whitham, of Congleton, Cheshire, has a spinal condition and last Friday "felt a twinge" and fell to the floor.

Her postman had no deliveries for her that day, but visited the property to leave parcels for neighbours who were not in.

He heard the screams of Ms Whitham, who had been alone in severe distress for about an hour, and came to her aid.

"From the bottom of my heart, thank you for being brave enough to come into my house," she told him after BBC Radio Stoke tracked him down for a Christmas Eve reunion.

Postman Ian, who did not wish to give his surname, said: "It was just fantastic to be able to help - it was nice to do something."

As for the fortuitous timing of his arrival at her home, Ms Whitham said: "I am so happy [my neighbours] weren't in now."

She added being able to thank Ian had made her Christmas.

Because of her health issues, monitoring systems had been set up in Ms Whitham's home including CCTV, but she happened to fall in a blind spot while her husband was out, she said.

She told the BBC she was "there for just over an hour, screaming in pain and crying my eyes out", before she heard a knock at the door and called out for help.

She said: "It must have been quite scary for [Ian], thinking 'are these dogs going to bite me, is it Covid safe'? Luckily the front door was open and he came straight into the house and found me."

Ian revealed it "took a while to register" someone was calling. He reassured Ms Whitham he had not got into trouble at work for taking time out to help her.

Before their Christmas Eve reunion, Ms Whitham had taken to social media in her attempts to find her postman, saying she wanted to thank "a very brave man and a hero".

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