A LUCKY-TO-BE-ALIVE youngster was recovering at home this week, just days after surviving a horrendous 15ft fall. The parents of seven-year-old Tallulah Jary have praised the 'fantastic' staff at the James Paget University Hospital for the care they gave their little girl after the ordeal.

A LUCKY-TO-BE-ALIVE youngster was recovering at home this week, just days after surviving a horrendous 15ft fall.

The parents of seven-year-old Tallulah Jary have praised the 'fantastic' staff at the James Paget University Hospital for the care they gave their little girl after the ordeal.

Recalling the traumatic events, Matt and Michaela Jary, of Blundeston, recalled how they found their daughter 'limp, blue, not breathing' and, they feared, dead at the bottom of the stairs.

In the event, Tallulah was still alive but unconscious.

And she battled back with the help of round-the-clock care, having suffered concussion and bruising.

The drama unfolded on Sunday, January 25, it emerged this week.

'Tallulah, unbelievably, decided to climb around the stair banisters on our landing and she fell 15 feet down the stairwell, landing on her head on the bottom step,' Mr Jary said. 'After her playmate Jude alerted us, we found her a minute later, limp, blue, not breathing and, to our eyes, dead. Thankfully, she wasn't, and now over a week later she is recovering well and she's on the mend on the sofa at home.'

The couple had friends round at the time, and the children were playing upstairs on their gallery landing when disaster struck at around 6.10pm.

Mr Jary, Lowestoft and Yarmouth Rugby Club's first- team manager, told The Journal: 'We found her all huddled up on the bottom step almost looking like she was embarrassed for falling.

'My wife pulled her to her, but her eyes flickered and she just flopped backwards with blood coming out of her ear. The worst fears hit us initially that she was dead.'

An ambulance and six paramedics were soon on the scene. Soon the youngster was put onto a spinal board and by 6.35pm the family were in the resuscitation room in the A&E department at the hospital in Gorleston.

Numerous scans and x-rays were taken with surgeons on the scene in the intensive care unit, and the air ambulance was on standby to take Tallulah to Addenbrooke's Hospital in Cambridge should the 'potential for a major operation' arise.

Mr and Mrs Jary paid their respects to the emergency staff this week. 'We would like to thank and praise the work of those who helped Tallulah recover,' they said. 'The level of care was just awesome.

'Her scans were not only checked by radiology, paediatric and ICU consultants at the Paget, but they were also wired through to Addenbrookes' expert paediatric neurologists immediately,' said Mr Jary.

Since the accident, Tallulah and the family have been 'inundated' with calls, cards, presents and get well messages from all the teachers, friends and classmates at Blundeston Primary School.

Mr and Mrs Jary were also quick to stress the safety aspect this week, as they sent out a warning to other parents to be on their guard at all times.

'We never considered the banisters at home to be a problem until Tallulah has fallen 15ft, but we're keen to stress that people take care,' Mr Jary said. 'The banisters are boarded up now with clear Perspex sheets to stop the kids climbing around.'