A Hermes delivery man became the people’s hero after he helped a woman give birth during his shift.
29-year-old former footballer Perry Ryan was delivering a package when he heard an ‘awful noise which sounded like someone was being murdered’.
He had ‘no idea what he was doing’ but ended up helping 30-year-old Khan Shoker in Waterlooville, Hampshire whose waters had broken near the front door of her home.
Shoker’s husband, Schar, was getting back from a shopping trip and made it right in time for his baby girl Bella’s first moments in the outside world with the delivery man passing on instructions from a midwife by phone.
Eventually, an ambulance arrived and the mother was taken care of by doctors. Perry said he was so ‘shaken’ by what had happened to him that he missed some of his afternoon deliveries.
He said:
“Mrs Shoker couldn’t speak very good English but then I heard her say “baby, baby, baby”.
I then realised what was happening and shouted through the letterbox and called 999. I was trying to keep her calm and reassure her.”
Moments later the new father came back from shopping after he received a call from his wife.
Schar was ‘shocked’ to find her in a state of labor in the doorway of their bedroom after he opened the front door.
Perry, who was once a youth player with Portsmouth FC, went on to say:
“He turned up and didn’t know what he was doing either. He was more shocked than me.
He didn’t speak very good English either but I started directing him what to do from the instructions I was being given on the phone – while trying to respect her privacy.
The mum’s legs were close to the [bedroom] door and I could start to see the baby before the dad pulled her out.
The baby was crying which I was told was good news. The dad was about to pull the umbilical cord so I told him not to touch it.
He was amazing though. But it was a good job I was there otherwise he might have struggled on his own. The midwife on the phone was brilliant too. I think they found it funny.
I was shaking — it was mad what happened. I had to sit down for five minutes after it all as I was in shock. I missed some of my delivery slots as a result.
I don’t know what would have happened if things had started to go wrong. Neither of us had a clue what we were doing.
I certainly didn’t expect that when I turned up to work, it was crazy.”
The husband, who moved to the UK from Iraq back in 2006, said:
“I was on the phone to the hospital for nearly 15 minutes – they said, “go home and bring her to the hospital”.
‘When I got home, I recognised Perry — he usually delivers quite a lot of stuff from eBay and Amazon to us. We have said “thank you” and we want to get him a gift after we find out what he would like.”
The baby girl was born at full-term and was brought to the Queen Alexandra Hospital in Portsmouth.
Schar said:
“He did such a good thing and I really appreciate it.
He couldn’t come in at first because the door was locked but it was good for me to know someone was behind the door. It was very helpful for me. It was good timing for him to be there.”
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