A woman who was seriously injured when she fell down a staircase has praised her 10-year-old niece who witnessed the fall.

Sarah Townshend was visiting a flat in Russell Street, Sheerness, on Sunday evening when she lost her footing.

The 36-year-old went tumbling down 20 steps, landing on the concrete floor at the bottom.

Her niece, Pixie Andrews, was following behind her and saw her aunt fall.

Sarah said she ended up "laying bent up like a pretzel, head pouring out with blood".

Pixie immediately ran down to her aunt and calmed her down before raising the alarm.

Sarah said: "Pixie was just brilliant. She was heroic. She didn't panic. I was distraught, I was so panicked that she would be upset."

She used Sarah's phone to call her mother Jade Andrews, Sarah's sister, and told Jade what had happened and where they were.

Pixie said: "I was very shocked, and I didn't really know what to do, but I just tried to calm myself down.

"If I was a lot younger I wouldn't know what I would've done."

Two women from nearby flats then came along to check what was wrong and called 999.

Sarah had suffered a broken radius in her left arm and a deep cut on her forehead that required stitches.

She also has grazes above and below her eye.

Sarah, who had been at the flat to look at a kitten she would potentially adopt, was told by medics at Medway Maritime Hospital in Gillingham that she could be off work for up to 12 weeks due to her injuries.

She said: "I'm incapable of doing anything at the moment, because I'm in such pain."

Reflecting on her niece's actions, she added: "I just want to stress how brave Pixie was. Without her there it would be a totally different story.

"Nobody heard me fall, nobody saw me fall. They only heard because she was there.

"To know that she did that for me, to know that she cares that much and how grown up she was.

"I'm very honoured to have her as my niece."