A MAN who has been described as a ‘walking example’ that CPR and defibrillators do work, has met the ambulance crews who helped save his life.
Dan Edwards collapsed and suffered a cardiac arrest while running up the stairs at Worcester College of Technology shortly after his 17th birthday in 2012.
After being put in the recovery position by a member of college staff, Dan’s tutor and Community First Responder Dave Price started CPR, continuing even after the ambulance service arrived.
Since making a full recovery, Dan has been fitted with an implantable cardioverter defibrillator and has raised money for the Arrhythmia Alliance charity.
Speaking at Worcester ambulance hub in Spetchley Road, Nick Montandon, one of the paramedic officers who tended to Dan three years ago said: “Everything went for you that day.
“I was here, I heard the Red 1 call, grabbed Dave MacDonald upstairs and we went down the road like the car was something out of ‘Batman’!
“We were told CPR was being done on him. We put the defib on him and started advanced life support. I was on my belly just about to intubate him when his vocal chords opened and he started to breathe. It was that quick and his colour came back.”
Dan, his friends and his mother Sue have had training in CPR and using a defibrillator. He said that when he explained to people what had happened to him: “They all seemed really shocked because I was obviously so young at the time. They don’t expect something like that to happen to a young person.”
Sue added: “We didn’t want to think if we saw something like that in the street that we would have to walk by because we couldn’t help. I would like to think that we can at least try and save somebody and know what to do.
“So, we both went on the course. It’s so important. Dan is a walking example that hands-on CPR and defibrillators do work,” she added.
