“I thought he was dying in my arms”

A brief, generalised, self-terminating convulsion during a fever in a child aged 6 months–6 years with full recovery and an identified source is a SIMPLE febrile convulsion — benign, common, NOT brain damage, and NOT epilepsy (NICE NG217: febrile seizures tend not to predispose to later afebrile seizures; most never develop epilepsy), with most children outgrowing them by school age. The clinical tasks are to confirm the simple pattern, know what makes it complex/atypical (prolonged — more than 10 minutes per NICE NG217 — focal, recurrent in 24h or the same illness, incomplete recovery) and warrant referral, and treat the underlying infection. But this is overwhelmingly a COMMUNICATION case: respond to the parent’s trauma first ("I thought he was dying"), correct the pervasive guilt-laden misconception that antipyretics prevent febrile convulsions (they do not — NICE NG143; nothing she did caused it), and give concrete recurrence first aid (protect, don’t restrain, recovery position, time it, 999 at 5 minutes — NICE NG217 — or a second seizure in the same illness or incomplete recovery) so the not-knowing terror is replaced by control. Acknowledge the hypervigilance, offer follow-up, and provide written information.