Woman's call for help goes unanswered

GERMANTOWN, Ohio (WDTN) - Heather Mitchell woke up in the middle of the night to every mother's worst nightmare.

"He's completely gray and wasn't breathing anymore and my husband had to start doing CPR on him," Heather says.

So she did what any mother would do. She called 911. Heather says she was on the line with her cell phone for what seemed like minutes, but nobody picked up.

With no other options, she rushed her son Liam to the car and drove him to the hospital.

"My son could have died because it didn't work," Heather says.

We asked officials with Regional Dispatch about what happened.

They tell us nothing went unanswered on their end, so they're looking into what the issue could have been.

2 NEWS has learned sometimes calls can bounce between cell towers, causing a slight delay. Officials aren't sure if that's the reason behind the unanswered call, but Heather has heard it might be.

"If the tower can't do it, it will ring until someone can reroute it to dispatch," Heather says.

Less than a day later, Liam is returning to his normally happy self.

"He's breathing and everything's well but we need to let him sleep with us for a while," Heather says.

Heather is just thankful her husband, who's a paramedic, had been sent home from work earlier that night.

"We were lucky that he was there," Heather says.

Heather says in the future, she's not taking any chances. She's going back to a landline. 

"Immediately, and I'll be lowering or getting rid of my cell phone plan entirely," Heather says.

Officials stress cell phones are a reliable way to call 911, but if you do use one to call for help, make sure to give your location because unlike a landline it's harder to pinpoint that with a cell phone.