Big thank you: I’m all good now, team
Natalie reunites with the VMR heroes who saved her life
IT WAS sheer luck and good training that saved motherof-two Natalie Fullager when she collapsed on a Gold Coast island more than a year ago.
Now, the 45-year-old Runaway Bay woman has returned to thank the quickthinking volunteers who came to her aid on Wavebreak Island.
Natalie was out with friends in November 2020 when, without warning, she went into cardiac arrest while playing games with friends on the beach.
“I remember my friends
going ‘oh my god, you’re a machine, how are you feeling’, because I was really competing, and I said, ‘I’ve just got this stitch in my side’,” she told the Bulletin on Saturday. “That was it, I just dropped.”
Thankfully, an off-duty doctor and nurse were both on the beach that day and immediately sprung into action.
Natalie’s terrified friends flagged down the Southport Volunteer Marine Rescue – which just happened to be passing the beach at that very moment.
They rushed in with a defibrillator on board and
shocked her “back to life”. The VMR vessel then took her back to the mainland where she was met by an ambulance that took her to Gold Coast University Hospital (GCUH).
The next thing she knew, she was waking up in the emergency department.
Ms Fullager has no memory of the moment she collapsed.
“I’m glad I don’t know any of it, I don’t want to have any flashbacks. I’m pretty much all good now,” she said.
“Those guys do an amazing job, they’re all volunteers and they give up their time,
I it’s pretty amazing what they do,” Ms Fullager said.
Doctors at GCUH implanted a defib in Ms Fullager’s chest to prevent a repeat of the near-tragedy.
VMR Southport president Glenn Norris said: “We probably
do CPR two to three times a year, and it’s very rare to have a result like that.
“It was basically so successful because everyone was on the spot.
“Had the people not been there for help, this could have been a different result.”
It’s the second time Ms Fullager has been able to thank those who saved her life.
In December 2020, just weeks after the incident, she had an emotional reunion with her hero lifesavers who were there on the day.
“I owe them my life,” she said at the time.
THAT WAS IT, I JUST DROPPED. I’M GLAD I DON’T KNOW ANY OF IT, DON’T WANT TO HAVE ANY FLASHBACKS. I’M PRETTY MUCH ALL GOOD NOW NATALIE FULLAGER