Pals save lad after he has cardiac arrest at school
Cool-headed pair got medical help
TWO boys helped save their 11-yearold friend’s life after he had a cardiac arrest outside school.
Jack Thompson’s heart stopped beating, he was not breathing and he was starting to turn blue.
Pal Keiron Stanley ran back into the school to get a defibrillator while Jack Jackson kept people away from their unconscious friend.
A passer-by rang 999 and off-duty nurse Nova Charles and GP Pete Watson, both picking up children from The Priory Belvoir Academy in Bottesford, Leicestershire, performed CPR.
The medics used the defibrillator to shock Jack’s heart into action and got him breathing.
Paramedics stopped Jack fitting and he was taken to The Queen’s Medical Centre in Nottingham.
He was later diagnosed with heart condition hypertrophic cardiomyopathy and had an ICD unit – like a mini defibrillator – fitted to his heart.
The device gives tiny shocks to regulate his heart when needed, and Jack does not feel a thing.
Jack, now 12, said at a reunion of everyone who helped: “What has happened to me really hasn’t fazed me. I’m just really excited to meet everyone who saved my life.”
Keiron, 15, said: “The outcome is a miracle. The last time I saw him was when he was being taken away in the ambulance.”
Jack Jackson, also 15, added: “I want to thank the ambulance service and everyone else who was involved in the response that day.” East Midlands Ambulance Service call handler Theresa Etheridge said: “It makes me proud to work for EMAS and makes everything that we do worthwhile.”