Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
My girl had heart attack at 13... defib could save a life
Hopes Lucy’s survival inspires others
A FAMILY whose young daughter survived a cardiac arrest in the middle of the night is urging defibrillator owners to register their devices and help save lives.
Lucy King was 13 when she suffered a cardiac arrest in February last year.
The Limavady High pupil had been asleep at home with mum Nicola, her dad Richard and siblings Thomas and Olivia when the incident happened.
Lucy’s mum, a former ICU nurse, said: “It was just a normal day last year for us. Lucy had been to Girls Brigade the evening before and then we all went to bed as normal.
“At about 6am she made the loudest noise in her sleep and we thought it was just a bad dream.
COLLAPSED
“We rushed into her room and she was sitting upright static in the bed, but not really there. She then suddenly collapsed back into the bed.
“As a nurse myself I just went into autopilot and knew I had to start CPR. We phoned for an ambulance and my son Thomas, who was 15 at the time, ran in his pyjamas to get the nearest defibrillator from the local Spar in Limavady.
“As he got back home with the defibrillator the ambulance crew arrived at the same time and they were able to shock Lucy twice at home before rushing her to hospital.”
Lucy was transferred to the Royal Victoria
Hospital in Belfast where she remained in ICU for three days and in hospital for three weeks.
Arriving home just as Northern Ireland went into the first Covid lockdown, the champion Irish dancer was wheelchair-bound and had to learn to walk and talk again. Now Lucy is back dancing and has a classroom assistant to help her at school.
Lucy’s parents later learned she had a genetic heart condition and she is now fitted with a special cardiac defibrillator device.
Mum Nicola said her incredible story of survival is proof of the importance of knowing CPR and performing quick defibrillation.
The family are urging defibrillator owners to register them with a database called The Circuit that connects the devices to ambulance services across the UK.
Registering will mean that, in those crucial moments when someone is having a cardiac arrest, that machine can be accessed quickly to help more people survive.
Since The Circuit first went live in February 2020, it has directed 582 emergency callers at the scene of a cardiac arrest to the nearest defibrillator in their community. Nicola said: “The Circuit is such an important tool to help save more lives.
“Please if you are a guardian of a publicly accessible defibrillator, register it with The Circuit.
“Knowing where the nearest defibrillator is really could make all the difference to someone’s life. Our family know that only too well.”