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'Wonder woman' saves boy, 7

MY HERO: Jean-Luc with Lisa

SALES rep Lisa Hodgkinson has been nicknamed Wonder Woman after she used superhuman strength to lift a one-tonne car off a schoolboy.

Onlookers were amazed when the 29-year-old managed to shift the BMW off seven-year-old Jean-Luc Archer - and then gave him the kiss of life, using first aid skills she learned on a course several years earlier.

The drama started when Jean-Luc ran out in front of a BMW as he crossed Waterloo Road, in Cheetham Hill, Manchester, with his brother and a friend.

The youngster went under the front wheels of the car, traumatising the driver so severely he was unable to take his foot off the brake for several minutes.

The car ended up with its back wheels on top of the boy, crushing his pelvis, breaking both his arms as well as a bone in his leg and almost ripping off his ear.

Lisa, from Warrington, said: "The car was on top of him, but I managed to push it off ; it was very heavy because the driver had frozen with his foot on the brake.

"I found the strength from somewhere. When I'd got it off him, I checked his heartbeat, which was OK, but he wasn't breathing, so I gave him mouth-to-mouth and it got him going again.

Bandaged

"He was in a very bad way and I wasn't sure if he'd pull through, but I borrowed a first aid kit and bandaged him up and supported his head until the ambulance came.

"It was very shocking, but my instincts just took over. I managed to concentrate on what I was doing. I was quite shaken afterwards, because I didn't think he would live."

Jean-Luc, a pupil at Cheetwood primary school, was first taken to Booth Hall Hospital, but then moved to the Royal Manchester Children's Hospital at Pendlebury for a five-hour operation.

He suffered multiple injuries which left him unconscious for four days. But he is now back at Booth Hall making a remarkable recovery.

He is due to stay in hospital for at least five more weeks.

Lisa revealed Jean-Luc's was the second life she had saved in the last 18 months.

She received a Good Citizenship Award from Cheshire Police for resuscitating a lorry driver on the M62 in July last year.

Fantastic

Jean-Luc's mum, Maggie, 34, from Cheetham Hill, said there was no doubt that Lisa had saved Jean-Luc's life with her quick thinking.

"It was really touch and go whether he'd make it," she said.

"There's no two ways about it, he wouldn't be here now if Lisa hadn't done what she did.

"He's nicknamed her Wonder Woman - and that's what she is."

Jean-Luc's granddad Graham Archer said: "We owe her a great deal and we know it - it's difficult to know how to thank someone who has done so much for you."

He added: "Jean-Luc has been at both Pendlebury and Booth Hall and all the staff have been fantastic. When he opened his eyes after four days, there were tears of joy in their eyes."

Care assistant Loraine Pickering, of Prestwich, dialled 999 after witnessing the accident as she was driving out of a side turning on to Waterloo Road.

"Lisa was amazing, there's no other word for it," she said.

"She managed to get him breathing and conscious again.

"Everyone was in shock and it was hard to believe how well she did."