2 days Ago
A woman who survived a sudden cardiac arrest has been reunited with the ambulance crews who saved her life. Frailty nurse practitioner Dee, 52, who has 25 years of experience in the NHS, was found unresponsive by her husband Will at their home in East Sussex in June last year. Will immediately called 999, and emergency medical adviser Teresa Taylor coached him on how to perform CPR on Dee.
Resource dispatcher Lauren O'Leary coordinated a team of seven clinicians to their home. The SECAmb teams found Dee in cardiac arrest and delivered five shocks with a defibrillator before achieving a return of spontaneous circulation. Dee was then taken to Conquest Hospital, ventilated in intensive care, and discharged just three weeks later.
Dee recently had the chance to personally meet Ian, Emily, Gary, and Leah, who all played a crucial role in her survival. Speaking at the reunion, she said: "I will never be able to put into words my sincere thanks and appreciation for all those involved. "I want to thank every single person who treated me and supported my husband that day.
"Your care and service were outstanding, and I am lucky enough to be living proof of this." Despite extensive tests, doctors have been unable to determine the cause of Dee’s cardiac arrest. She now has an implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD), a device implantable inside the body that performs defibrillation.
Ian Le Page, one of the paramedics who saved Dee, said: "Reunions like this are incredibly special. "Our crews rarely get to see the outcomes of their work, so to meet Dee again, hear her story, and know she is recovering well is truly rewarding. "Her words mean a lot to us all.
" Dee is now focusing on her recovery at home with her family and remains grateful to those who came to her aid. She added: "Meeting the ambulance crews was such a positive experience for me and it formed a valuable part of my healing process. "I highly recommend others to reach out to SECAmb as I did.
"I firmly believe if more bystanders learnt CPR and used this training in those crucial minutes there would be more success stories like mine." With half of all out-of-hospital cardiac arrests witnessed by a bystander, SECAmb is encouraging people to learn how to confidently perform CPR. To find out more about CPR courses in your local area, visit the SECAmb website.
.
