Last night, my one-year-old son poured a cup of water over me: at first I thought it was just a normal childish prank, until I learned the terrifying truth 

In the evening after work, I was so exhausted that I literally collapsed onto the couch. I played a little with my son, didn’t even have dinner — I simply had no strength left. I lay down to rest for a few minutes… and didn’t even notice when I fell asleep right there on the couch.

My son was playing nearby, my wife was cooking in the kitchen. Everything was calm. Or at least that’s what I thought.

I don’t know how much time passed, but suddenly I was awakened by a sharp, icy shock, as if someone had dumped a whole bucket of water on me. I jolted awake, opened my eyes, and saw a strange sight: my son was standing next to me, holding a cup and pouring the water directly onto my head.

“Daddy! Daddy!” he repeated anxiously.

For the first few seconds, I didn’t understand what was happening. And then anger washed over me. I was half asleep, my clothes were soaked, the couch was wet through, and water was dripping onto the floor.

“Don’t you know you’re not supposed to do that?” I snapped, wiping water from my face.

My son got scared, his lips started trembling.

“Daddy, I’m sorry…”

And then he said a sentence that hit me like an electric shock.  Only then did I realize it wasn’t a childish prank at all, but something much more frightening  Continued in the first comment 

“Daddy, you were shaking… your whole body was shaking, and your eyes were open, but you wouldn’t wake up. I was yelling… but you didn’t hear me.”

I froze. His words cut through me like an icy wind. Little by little, I started to understand: this wasn’t a dream. It was a seizure.

It happens rarely, but it has happened before. And the scariest thing is — it always comes suddenly. Usually my wife is next to me, but this time I was saved by… my one-year-old child.

He saw me start to shake, saw my body tense up, saw my breathing become shallow. A tiny child who can barely talk understood that something was terribly wrong. He tried to wake me up, shook my hand, called me, cried, but I didn’t react.

So he did the only thing his little mind could think of: he grabbed a cup of water and started pouring it over my face, hoping it would bring me back.

And it worked.

I sat there soaking wet, in shock, and in front of me stood my little boy with a trembling lip and huge, frightened eyes.

I pulled him close and hugged him as tightly as if I were afraid of losing consciousness again.

“It’s okay… You saved Daddy, you hear?” I whispered, feeling a lump rise in my throat.