Heart-stopping day for gym’s owner
After 45 minutes of CPR and 17 shocks with a defibrillator, paramedics thought Matt Gilmartin was a goner.
And the 39-year-old may well have been, were it not for the heroic actions of his friend and personal trainer, Adrian Owen.
Gilmartin, who owns the Pure Tough gym in the suburb of Miramar, suffered a cardiac arrest and collapsed there on June 23 – and it was Owen who sprung into action to save him.
‘‘I called 111. Matt wasn’t breathing and I couldn’t get a pulse. I started CPR straight away with my phone still under my ear,’’ Owen said. ‘‘While I was doing CPR, I was just thinking about his kids. No way, no way is this going to happen.’’
Owen estimated it took about 10 minutes until emergency services arrived and took over Gilmartin’s treatment.
Wellington Free Ambulance paramedic Amanda Bird said it was one of the closest calls of her career. They shocked Gilmartin 17 times with the defibrillator – the most Bird had ever given a patient.
After a prolonged period of CPR, as well as administering defibrillator shocks and medicine, hope was fading and the crew members were talking about stopping CPR, she said.
It was only during Bird’s ‘‘final checks’’ that she picked up the faint sound of a heartbeat.
But the drama wasn’t quite over at that point. Paramedics continued working on Gilmartin, and got him to the ambulance, at which point he suffered yet another cardiac arrest, leading to another defibrillator shock.
Then, upon arrival at Wellington Hospital, Gilmartin suffered a third cardiac arrest, requiring one more shock before he was wheeled into the emergency department.
A few weeks after the event, and against the odds, Gilmartin has made a remarkable recovery.
He now has a mini-defibrillator implanted in his chest but he’s alive and he’s well.