17 November 2009
A
father-to-be has met the people who saved his life when his heart
stopped beating while he was driving his car in May.
Graham Halliday, 36, who lives on New Kings
Road, was driving over Putney Bridge one afternoon when he suffered
a cardiac arrest at the wheel.
His wife Anna, 31, who was three months
pregnant at the time, was in the passenger seat and managed to lean
over and steer the car into a van to bring it to a dramatic
stop.
Anna, now eight-and-a-half months pregnant,
said: “Graham was talking normally when suddenly he went into a
sort of fit and put his foot on the accelerator.
“I tried to get his leg off the pedal and in
the heat of the moment realised I was trying to take his left leg
off the clutch. The car needed to be brought to a stop so I steered
it into a van.
“Three bystanders helped me to get my
six-foot-six husband out of the car and someone called an
ambulance.”
Ambulance crew emergency medical technicians
Julian Bloomfield and Adam Sinclair were first on the scene. Julian
said: “When we got the details of the call we knew it would be
serious.
“We arrived to find a large group of people
crowded around. We could immediately tell that Graham’s heart had
stopped beating as he had gone very purple, a sure sign that blood
has stopped being pumped around the body.
“We started cardiopulmonary resuscitation
(CPR), which is the best thing you can do if someone’s heart has
stopped.”
Helen Ellison, an off-duty student paramedic,
was walking over Putney Bridge at the time. She said: “I saw the
car crash and went over the see if I could help. In no time at all
Julian and Adam arrived and I helped them to give CPR, taking it in
turns to do chest compressions.”
More ambulance staff, as well as the air
ambulance with Paramedic Joe Bries on board, arrived as Julian and
Adam attached a defibrillator, a machine used to deliver a shock to
restart the heart, to Graham.
Julian said: “After two minutes of CPR we
shocked Graham’s heart four times with the defibrillator and his
pulse and breathing returned. When someone suffers a cardiac
arrest, starting CPR and getting a defibrillator to them as quickly
as possible, ensures they have the best chance of survival.”
Graham, who had suffered no previous health
problems and is an avid cyclist, runner and swimmer, was taken to
St George’s Hospital, Tooting, for further treatment. In two weeks
he was discharged home after having an implantable cardioverter
defibrillator fitted.
Graham, who works in the City, said: “I owe an
enormous debt of gratitude to my wife, Helen, and the ambulance and
hospital staff involved. It’s really surreal to meet some of them
again as I have no memory of the incident, just coming around a
couple of days later.
“I was told at hospital that as well as those
who were so quick to help me, it was probably the amount of oxygen
in my blood from keeping fit that saved my life.
”I’m back at work now, but I’ve had to scale
back my exercise routine!”
- Ends -
Note to editors:
- For more information about this press release, or the London
Ambulance Service, please call the communications department on 020
7921 5113.
- The London Ambulance Service also offers free training in basic
life support for members of the public. For more information visit
our Learn to save a life section
- The London Ambulance Service has been responsible for
maintaining and training members of the public to use public-access
defibrillators since 2004.
- There are over 500 public-access defibrillators in London, the
largest number in any location in the UK, and over 6,100 people
trained to use them.
- Out of the 113 patients treated with a public-access
defibrillator 32 have survived to hospital discharge, a much higher
survival rate than the rest of London.