Sheffield teenager to receive honour top bravery honour after administering first aid to stabbing victim

Jonathan Grundy, of Deer Park Way, Stannington, was walking to a friend’s house along Stannington Road on the evening of October 20 last year, when he noticed a group of men acting suspiciously. The 17-year-old army cadet then saw one of the men running with a limp to a nearby delivery driver seeking help and claiming he had been stabbed. However, when the driver refused to help Jonathan stepped in – potentially putting himself in serious danger – and used all his first-aid training to tend to the victim’s wounds. After ensuring the man was not armed he assessed the victim’s wounds, alerted emergency services and then called his older brother and asked him to run to the scene with his first aid kit. The victim, a 17-year-old boy, was suffering stab wounds to his back and ankle. Jonathan, a cadet with with D Company Hillsborough Detachment, said: “I asked him to keep his hands out of his pockets. I could see his leg was bleeding profusely, so I phoned the police, elevated his leg and applied dressings to stem the blood before seeing to his back wound.” “I was pretty terrified at the time but knew I had to help. All I could think about what that I had to check on my friend’s dog who I was on my way to feed. “Looking back I would do exactly the same again.” After controlling the bleeding, Jonathan tended to victim’s back wound. Police then arrived at the scene before ambulance crews arrived and took the man, who survived the ordeal, to the Northern General Hospital. Jonathan’s mum Sara Grundy said: “Jonathan loves for first aid and is really good at it – he has actually just been offered a job as a clinical supporter worker at the Royal Hallamshire Hospital. “When the police arrived they actually thought he was an off-duty paramedic. He had to say ‘no I’m only a 17-year-old army cadet.” Now, Jonathan has been awarded a Royal Humane Society Testimonial on Parchment for his couragous act, after being nominated by Captain Christopher Ledger, of D Company, the Humberside and South Yorkshire Army Cadet Force. Captain Ledger was originally going to nominate Jonathan for the Praiseworthy First Aid award, however through the chain of command was recommended to take the nomination higher. Captain Ledger said: “Our motto within the Army Cadets is ‘inspire to achieve’. We are always looking to make the cadets the best they can be. I just thought Jonathan’s story really encapsulates what the Army Cadets are all about. “We are always looking to award our cadets and I though Jonathan’s story was one that we should be making a big deal of, especially with all the knife crime incidents which have been happening in Sheffield. “We are very proud of all of our cadets and what they achieve but this is the icing on the cake.” Both Jonathan’s mum and brother are also part of the Army Cadets. Sara Grundy, 48, received the same honour as Jonathan last year after attempting to save her fiancé – who was suffering from a heart attack – last year. She performed CPR for 15 minutes but unfortunately was not able to save him. A date is yet to be fixed for presentation of Jonathan’s award however it is expected to take place in the near future. The roots of the Royal Humane Society stretch back more than two centuries. The Queen is its patron and its president is Princess Alexandra. It is the premier national body for honouring bravery in the saving of human life. It was founded in 1774 by two of the day's eminent medical men, William Hawes and Thomas Cogan. Their primary motive was to promote techniques of resuscitation. However, as it emerged that numerous people were prepared to put their own lives at risk to save others, the awards scheme evolved, and today a variety of awards are made depending on the bravery involved. The Society also awards non health care professionals who perform a successful resuscitation. Since it was set up the Society has considered over 87,000 cases and made over 200,000 awards. The Society is a registered charity which receives no public funding and is dependent on voluntary donations. It was one of a select number of organisations to receive a donation from the Patron’s fund which was set up to acknowledge work done by organisations of which the Queen is the patron, to mark her 90th birthday.