Seven-year-old Lucy remained calm, despite discovering her mum unconscious, and dialled 999 for help.

While waiting for an ambulance to arrive, she took a stool from her room to reach the keys to an outside gate.

She was then able to let in paramedic Kelvin French after first following instructions from the ambulance control room to check his name and appearance.

Lucy, of Dersingham, has been nominated for a Super Kids award by her mum, Claire, who said it was her way of saying thank you and showing her love and appreciation for her daughter.

Mrs Pearson has been a Type 1 insulin-dependent diabetic for more than 30 years and said: "Because of the long-term effects, my health has declined. I became visually impaired in 2001, I have had three heart attacks and I now suffer from blackouts."

On the day she became ill, Mrs Pearson said: "I awoke to find the paramedic there."

She also found Lucy had thoughtfully put her medication on the floor beside her, in case she needed it when she woke up.

Mrs Pearson said: "Lucy stayed cool and calm at what must have been a difficult and upsetting time for her.

"She showed maturity beyond her years.

"Even some adults would have panicked and gone to pieces."

Lucy has also overcome serious illness in her own short life.

She was born two months prematurely after Mrs Pearson was told she would not be able to have children.

Soon after birth, she was diagnosed with a hole in the heart and had to undergo an operation in London's Great Ormond Street Hospital when she was three months old.

Lucy has grown into a kind and thoughtful little girl who loves reading and animals, especially horses.

And it is not the first time she has called an ambulance for her mum.

Mrs Pearson said: "She is very special to me.

"I believe God sent her to be a guardian angel and I appreciate her watching over me."