Journalist John Sage suffered every parent's nightmare when his 17-month-old son began choking on some food.

But prompt treatment by staff at the accident and emergency department at Haywards Heath's Princess Royal Hospital saved the boy's life.

Here John, 32, of Cuckfield, a former Evening Argus News Editor, explains why he is joining the campaign to stop plans to downgrade facilities at the Princess Royal.

They were the same words I have heard dozens of times before. In my career I have encountered them many times.

They are a clich.

"It could have been a fatal situation," said Katie Honeysett.

She was phrasing things as politely as her five-and-a-half years' experience in the ambulance service told her she needed to.

If I had been working I would have kept this line of questioning to get the plain statement: "He could have died."

The "situation" involved my baby son Sean, and the reality of those seven words is etched in my mind, along with the image of Sean trying desperately to breathe as his airways were obstructed by a hunk of bread.

We had given him a slice of bread from a loaf to keep him happy as my wife Nicola and I shopped at Sainsbury's in Haywards Heath at teatime on Saturday.

Suddenly, Sean was grimacing and could only let out a tiny gurgling sound.

He was choking. After the textbook first aid efforts (assisted by an off-duty nurse) failed, he was in an ambulance and at the Princess Royal four minutes later.

His breathing was badly restricted and he was in a lot of pain, and although he never lost consciousness, it was a further 15 minutes before treatment by the doctors at the A&E led to Sean coughing up the offending hunk.

So, only a scare. But after the relief, came the anger.

The A&E department at the Princess Royal is under threat because a review board considering the hospital's future has proposed it is downgraded.

This means that while ambulance crews would continue to take heart attack or asthma victims to the Princess Royal, those who need surgery would be taken to the Royal Sussex County Hospital, 20 minutes away - "on a clear run" says Katie.

The Argus timed it at 27 minutes.

The proposals mean Sean may have had to have been taken to Brighton, and Katie's view on this scenario - and many more cases where time is criticial - is clear: "If his airways had totally obstructed, then no amount of lights and sirens would have got him to Brighton in time."

A wider aspect of the problem is that while ambulances are taking patients to Brighton, they are not on hand to deal with other emergencies in Mid Sussex.

Katie said: "We know the risks of this proposal. It's frightening."

Frightening and wrong.

It is frightening for the ambulance crews who are likely to face many tough decisions about exactly where to take patients.

Guidelines would be drawn up for them, but some decisions would be down to the crews' judgment. The idea that children in a similar situation to Sean might be denied treatment at the nearest hospital is appalling.

It is wrong because the Royal Sussex County Hospital is not close by, not particularly easy to get to and not underused - much of the time, quite the opposite.

These three factors will not change and so increasing the burden there will create a larger problem.

The official discussion document is due out on Monday. But the argument for downgrading says the A&E at the Princess Royal is run by general consultant surgeons who will be very difficult to replace.

Health officials say that rather than close the unit, they want to recruit and train specialists and concentrate them in hospitals serving larger areas.

With limited budgets and a larger area to cover, the officials cannot cater for everything. But to reduce basic emergency health provision to an area like mid Sussex, with a rapidly-growing population as the Government forces through housing increases, is plain wrong.