On Friday 23rd June, an unfamiliar male voice woke me and told me,
“Megan, you’re in St George’s, you’ve had a cardiac arrest”.
What?
As a fit, healthy 41 year old how could this be possible? Only the week before, I had won the Mothers race at sports day.
But it was true, and I was lying in the intensive care unit having just been brought out of an induced coma.
And to be honest, if it wasn’t for the first aid skills of my husband and son, I probably wouldn’t be here typing this post.
On the night of the 20th June, my husband came home from a work dinner and I was lying in bed playing with my new ‘phone. Nothing seemed untoward. 30 minutes later I had fallen out of bed.
To begin with, my husband thought I was messing about, but when I was completely unresponsive, he ran round and found me lying unconscious and without a pulse.
Thankfully, my husband had recently completed first aid training, and he immediately began CPR. This turned out to be life-saving.
The commotion woke my 9 year old son, who has also undertaken first aid with his incredible cub group. He quickly assessed what was happening, he turned to my husband and told him to call 999, listen to them and then carry on with CPR. My husband did as he was told. Then in his words, he walked and stood by the window until he saw the blue flashing lights and then he ran downstairs to let the paramedics in.
He acted calmly and with knowledge; he is a true child of courage and I made him.
The paramedics then took over and my journey in hospital through resuscitation, CT ICU and the ward began.
Earlier, this week we revisited the hospital to deliver presents and cards to thank those who’d helped me in hospital. Meeting two of the intensive care staff, I couldn’t get over how pleased they were to see me. Between the massive grins, they kept telling me how pleased they were to see me and how healthy I looked.
But they said something else to me which was much more special:
“You husband really did do a lot, it’s down to him that we could save you”.
His CPR skills basically saved my life.
But my plea is to you is please make sure your first aid skills are up to date. Take a course, if needs be. I was lucky, both my husband and son were knowledgeable and knew exactly what to do. Please be like them.
Make sure your children know how to react and be aware of what they need to do in situations like this, and give them the skills to be able to help. It’s crucial and it saves lives.
As for me, I am making a slow, steady recovery and I am hoping I can resume my normal life as soon as possible.
For more information on learning CPR, please visit the British Heart Foundation who have a wealth of information on learning CPR and available courses.
