ASHINGTON MAN LUCKY TO BE ALIVE

13/02/2019

An 81 year-old Ashington man has been reunited with the nurse and ambulance crews who saved his life.

John Young collapsed in Newcastle City Centre at the end of November after suffering a cardiac.  Fortunately, off-duty nurse Ingrid Pridmore from Cramlington was on hand to give him CPR until the ambulance crews arrived.

John’s daughter Ashleigh Tilmouth said:  “The main artery in his heart ruptured which is why he collapsed so suddenly.  My dad had the ‘jump leads’ – as he calls them – on him several times in the 40 minutes before he was taken to the RVI.

“The ambulance crews stayed with him at the RVI as he needed to be transferred to the Freeman.

“Ingrid and the ambulance crews saved his life – it’s just amazing.  I was speaking to one of the doctors at the RVI and he said not many people survive that kind of cardiac arrest – even if they’re being treated in hospital.”

John lives in John Street, Ashington, and is a former councillor at Wansbeck Council.  He added:  “I wanted to thank them all – they saved my life.  One moment I was looking at a shop window by The Gate and then I woke up the in the RVI.”

Ingrid said:  “I could clearly see that it was a cardiac arrest, but I had to wait until he had stopped breathing before I could give him CPR.  Having five of us made a real difference.

“It was quite a task.  Afterwards I couldn’t settle – I had to go back to the RVI two hours later to see what had happened.”

Paramedic Graham Boyd was first on the scene and then he was joined within minutes by Steve Bridge, David Errington and Stewart Connor.

Emergency Care Technician Steve Bridge said:

“Graham was the first of us to arrive on the scene and he realised Mr Young was having a cardia arrest.  When we arrived, Stewart used a bag Valve and Mask to breath for Mr Young, while the nurse continued CPR.

“Graham shocked Mr Young twice before we arrived and we shocked him a further three times at scene and then again on the way to hospital as he re-arrested on the way to hospital in the back of the ambulance.

 “We monitored his heart and his breathing and administered drugs to help his condition.

“He had a very unusual heart rhythm compared to a lot of cardiac arrest cases and he was in a confused and agitated state after we resuscitated him due to oxygen starvation.  It was a lot of work by all five of us.”

Initially Mr Young was taken to the RVI for emergency care and then he was transferred to the Freeman where he had a stent inserted to open up the affected coronary artery.

Steve added:  “He has been quite lucky and we really appreciate Mr Young wanting to meet up with us all to thank us.”