But 10 minutes of CPR brought her back
Angler rescued after collapsing face down into river
Aaron Dent 027 594 0208
07 348 6199
General Manager BOP
Greg Murphy 07 577 3462
Last Thursday morning, Heather Macdonald was dead. But, thanks to the quick thinking and rapid actions of a group on the Tongariro River bank, now, she’s alive. Alive, happy, and so very grateful.
As is her partner Jen Shieff, who spent an agonising 30 hours waiting to see whether Heather would survive and come back to consciousness with her faculties intact. The miracle she had been hoping for occurred last Friday when Heather, by then breathing on her own again, opened her eyes.
The drama occurred while Heather, a keen angler and Tongariro River Motel Ladies Fishing Tournament, was fishing at the Hydro Pool on the Tongariro River. Without warning she collapsed, lost consciousness and fell into the water, where she floated face down in the current.
Fellow Tu¯ rangi local Bob South was on the riverside talking to fishing guide Ken Drummond and Ken’s friends Ross and Sue Faulkner when he spotted Heather in the river.
He alerted Ken, who was already in the water fishing. Ken bravely plunged into the freezing, fast-flowing river to get her, while Bob dialled 111.
Ken waded some 25m in water a metre deep to retrieve Heather. With Ross’ help, he managed to drag Heather to the bank, no easy task as her wading belt and stick had both come adrift and her Goretex waders had filled with water.
“The weight was immense but we didn’t worry about that . . . the adrenalin keeps you going,” Ken said.
The two men pulled Heather to the riverbank and began CPR under the guidance of Sue Faulker, a nurse, while Bob manned the phone to 111. Ken says his first aid kicked in and in his head he could hear the words of his first aid trainer — “don’t stop!”. His persistence paid off.
The odds looked stacked against Heather, but 10 minutes of CPR kept blood flowing to her brain and finally restored a pulse. In all, she had been an estimated 18 minutes without breathing.
To the relief of the rescuers,
Tu¯ rangi Fire Brigade arrived to take over, followed by St John paramedics, police and a doctor and staff from Pihanga Health.
Heather says she is intensely grateful that “two such capable, generous local people as Ken and Bob happened to be close by”.
“Having fully recovered mentally and being almost recovered physically, I’m now in Waikato Hospital while the cardiac team investigates why I collapsed and works to find a solution.”
Heather says there are not enough words to express her gratitude to all the Tu¯ rangi Tongariro medical and emergency services who arrived so promptly to help.
“My thanks go to all of them, to Waikato Hospital’s ICU team and the Waikato helicopter that took over at Taupo¯ Hospital from the Tu¯ rangi helicopter team with me on a ventilator. I had no awareness of any of their efforts until I regained consciousness.”
Jen says it was the collective action of many people, including angler Ann Velvin giving her beanie to cover Heather’s head to help warm her up while being tended to on the riverbank and Didymo Dave Cade, who spent hours searching for Heather’s lost rod and reel who also deserved thanks.
In regard to Heather’s lost rod and reel, Tongariro River Motel Ladies Fishing Tournament organiser Ross Baker, tongue firmly in cheek, says an “eye witness” who saw the whole incident says Heather was hooked into an enormous rainbow trout estimated at well over 10kg (22lb) which dragged her into the river before it broke away.
Ross says on the basis of this ‘eye witness account’ Heather has won the tournament’s top prize — a rod and reel — for hooking into the biggest trout in the Ladies’ Tournament.
Heather says while she is not at all keen on personal publicity, she did want to take the opportunity to “acknowledge those people, who through going about their everyday lives — walking their dog, fishing, or doing voluntary or paid work, take actions that can have truly phenomenal outcomes”.
“There are no words sufficient for the gratitude I feel for those involved in my rescue and resuscitation.” investment into Te Ngae Rd to futureproof this key corridor and help unlock land for development so this is exciting news.
“It’s a big boost towards positive outcomes for our district — it will help stimulate the local economy by providing work and jobs, and will enable progress towards much-needed housing, so it strongly supports Rotorua’s Build Back Better economic recovery.”
Chadwick said the council had lobbied long and hard for investment in the city’s key roading corridors to ease congestion and future-proof the