Preschooler survives blind-cord hanging; mum’s warning to other parents

A Christchurch mother thought her preschooler was dead when she found him hanging from a blind cord in the family’s playroom. The 4-year-old boy was blue and not breathing. Within minutes, paramedics were at the house and he was rushed to the hospital, where he would make a full recovery. His mother spoke to senior journalist Anna Leask about the ordeal in a bid to highlight the dangers of blind cords.

Regan will never forget the day her middle child almost died. Had he been there even a minute longer, her story would have been one of tragedy rather than a warning to other parents.

“His 5-year-old brother had just come home from school and they went upstairs to their playroom to play together – like they do every day,” said Regan, who did not want her surname published.

“I have a Ring camera up there to periodically check in on them while they play, but I hadn’t checked it for about 10 minutes. I was just sitting down in the lounge when his brother came running down the stairs and told me that he was hanging from the window.

“In my heart, I already knew exactly what he meant so I ran up there and saw him hanging by the blind cord.

“He was totally limp... wasn’t moving and he was completely blue. I was in shock and honestly terrified, just running on adrenaline but I honestly thought in that moment that he was already gone.”

The mum of a boy who almost died after being strangled with a curtain cord has spoken about the dangers to warn other parents. Photo / 123rf

Regan tried to help her son while her partner called 111.

“I lifted him up, unwrapped the cord and started to smack his back, blow into his face, tried everything I could think of to get him to breathe,” she said.

“He started breathing again but was still unresponsive and blue until the paramedics arrived a few minutes later.”

The preschooler regained consciousness during the ambulance ride to Christchurch Hospital.

“But he didn’t speak for a couple of hours,” Regan said.

“He had a CT scan of his head and neck, which came back looking great, and then we went to the children’s high care unit for him to be monitored.

“He suddenly started talking again and just wanted a big cuddle. We spoke to the police who had come to figure out what happened, and they gave him a ‘police helper’ sticker, which definitely cheered him up. At this point, it was nighttime, so he fell asleep, slept all night and woke up in the morning acting almost exactly like his normal self.”

Regan suspects she knows how her son got into strife.

“He must have climbed up on the windowsill, put it around his neck – probably to pretend he was a dog with a leash on or something similar, he has a huge imagination,” she said.

“He would’ve slipped off the windowsill and the blind cord had gotten caught around his neck and strangled him when he fell.

“Luckily, his big brother was there and knew something was wrong; he later told me that he ‘watched him fall asleep’ before running down to tell me.”

The preschooler was rushed to Christchurch Hospital and made a full recovery. Photo / George Heard

The boy spent the night in the hospital and had some final tests before Regan could take him home. She said his results were “perfect” and he made a full recovery.

“He was discharged home the next day as if nothing had ever happened,” she said.

“It’s all thanks to his big brother who literally saved his life without even knowing it.”

The relieved mum has not been back into the playroom since her son nearly died.

“The room has been shut ever since because I feel sick whenever I think about going in there. I’m definitely a bit traumatised,” she said.

“My 4-year-old hasn’t talked about it much; he thinks he just bumped his head and went to the hospital, and they fixed it. My 5-year-old has talked about it a lot, though; he knows he’s the hero and he’s very proud of himself, as he should be.

“Both of the kids are very science-based; they wanted to know the facts. I had to tell them how everything happened, how when he slipped off the windowsill, the cord put too much pressure on his neck and how it had cut off the oxygen to his brain and that he could have died from it.

“They both know how serious it was now and they’re both still processing it, I think. There will be an ongoing conversation about not putting anything around their necks and how to help others if they look like they’re in trouble, but they also know that it was a crazy accident and that we were the lucky ones.”

She said she would buy a tensioner device to hold down the cord and keep it out of reach of her children.

Coroner Heather McKenzie presided over an inquest where a child died after being strangled by a curtain cord. Photo / Otago Daily Times / Gregor Richardson

Aware of cases in New Zealand where young children died in similar circumstances, Regan decided to post about her son on Facebook and then agreed to share her story with the Herald to raise awareness and highlight the dangers of blind cords.

In 2024, a 3-year-old boy was found unresponsive by his father when he went to wake him from an afternoon nap.

The cord of the blind beside his bed became wrapped around the front of his neck – likely while he was playing – and he was unable to extricate himself.

In 2018, a 19-month-old girl was found unresponsive on her bedroom floor by her parents with the inner cord of the roman blind fixed to her window “tightly wrapped around her neck”.

It is thought the little girl was trying to look out the window to see her father, who had returned home shortly after she was put to bed, and got caught in the inner cords and could not free herself.

“I wanted to speak out about this because I used to be that person reading Facebook posts and news articles about this, but I wasn’t educated enough to know that it’s still a risk for 4-year-olds,” Regan said.

“I stupidly thought that it could never be my child, that he was old enough to know better, and maybe old enough to be able to get himself out if he did get stuck.

“This specific blind cord was nowhere near any beds or furniture. He had to climb up onto the windowsill to be able to reach it, so I thought it was safe but I was so naive.”

Regan urged anyone with window coverings that have ropes, cords or similar mechanisms to be vigilant.

“My message for other parents is just to make sure you secure every single blind cord,” she said.

“Even if your kids are older. Even if you think they know better. Even though you might read this and think that it’s something that only happens to other people’s kids, surely not your own.

“It can and it does happen to any family. It’s a freak accident that you never expect, but you can make sure it never happens by securing the cords.

“Share my child’s story with anyone you know who has kids, our situation was the best-case scenario, other families aren’t so lucky.”

Regan said her son was back to normal and she felt "grateful". Photo / Stock

There are currently no mandatory regulations or enforceable requirements around blind cords – including design specifications, safety advice and the supply or installation of corded internal window coverings.

Last year, Coroner Heather McKenzie noted that some larger suppliers of window coverings were already undertaking “responsible practice” and strongly recommending to customers that safety devices be purchased when ordering blinds – or that they should be retrofitted to already-installed blinds – in areas where children may be present.

But she wanted more done to promote safety and prevent harm and death, and she made a number of recommendations around that.

Regan called on authorities to make a legislative change to further protect children.

“I’d like to see a law put in place that would make free-hanging blind cords a thing of the past,” she said.

“We have safety devices for these things, and it should be against the law to have such a huge hidden danger in potentially every room in a house.”

Regan said her son needed a follow-up ultrasound but was otherwise fine.

“So far he seems like he’s back to his normal self and I’m so grateful for that,” she said.

“He’s always super happy, bubbly, curious and outgoing. He loves playing with his big brother and little sister and has so much love for them.

“We know how lucky we are to still be a family.”

Anna Leask is a senior journalist who covers national crime and justice. She joined the Herald in 2008 and has worked as a journalist for 19 years with a particular focus on family and gender-based violence, child abuse, sexual violence, homicides, mental health and youth crime. She writes, hosts and produces the award-winning podcast A Moment In Crime, released monthly on nzherald.co.nz