Irish hero Joanne saves dying man
Tour guide Joanne, 34, performs CPR to save dying man
AN Irish woman was yesterday hailed a hero after resuscitating a dying man during the terrorist attack in London. Joanne Saunsbury, 34, from Wexford town, was working as a trainee tour guide on a bus travelling across Westminster Bridge when maniac Khalid Masood, 52, ploughed his 4x4 into pedestrians. She rushed off the coach to help the injured – and initially thought she had ended up on the set of a horror movie. Joanne said: “One person there wasn’t moving. He was non-responsive and I was trying to get him to breathe and to get his heart beating, so I was doing CPR. “The person I was helping was severely wounded. It was just horrific, there was blood and there were people lying in pools of blood. “I was doing CPR until the paramedics came. I learned CPR from my training with the Order of Malta in Wexford, I kept it up. I don’t really know what happened to the man but I know he was very seriously injured. “I didn’t get his name or anything about him but he was so badly injured and I couldn’t find a pulse. I don’t know but where there’s life there’s hope.” Joanne, who lives in London, described the horror of watching the tragedy unfold. She said: “There were planes, the armed response unit, armed police, it was just a nightmare. “I was expecting someone to come out and shout ‘Cut’ and everyone to get up because it was like something out of an action film or a horror film.” The crowd initially had no idea what was
It was just horrific, there was blood and there were people lying in pools of blood JOANNE SAUNSBURY LONDON YESTERDAY
happening but Joanne immediately went into rescue mode. She said: “There were people down and it was a cry of first-aiders, so I was down the stairs and off the bus so fast I actually didn’t think. “I wasn’t thinking of my own safety, I wasn’t thinking of anything else. At the time you get a surge of adrenaline. I was just doing as I could, I don’t think it’s enough. I mean the death count was five people and the person I was helping was severely wounded. I just keep wondering if I was able to do enough. “There’s always this thing of, ‘If I was there three minutes, two minutes, 30 seconds earlier what more I could have done?’” Joanne told how watching the horror unfold was traumatising for everyone. She said: “I was looking the other way so I didn’t actually see the impact but a car ploughed through people on the road and then ploughed through pedestrians. “We were just doing the tour as normal and then there was an absolute flash and there was five people down that you could see and then there were two others that had been knocked down Westminster Pier steps. Speaking to South East Radio’s Morning Mix. Joanne added: “Everyone’s been telling me I was absolutely brave but I didn’t feel brave afterwards listening to it on the news. “I’ve been offered counselling. All the people are being really, really kind and professional. “I came home to 41 messages from people wondering if I was OK. When people heard I was on Westminster Bridge I got so much support, the thing is I don’t feel like a hero.”