I’m alive due to air medics
HELP VITAL WHEN ADRIAN HAD
PARAMEDICS fought for over an hour to save a man who had multiple heart attacks – and he now wants to raise awareness of the charity that came to his aid.
Adrian O’Donnell, 56, a selfemployed electrician from Hinckley, went into cardiac arrest in an ambulance outside his home in July 2020.
He kept rearresting and a defibrillator was used multiple times.
But it became evident to the ambulance crew more specialist interventions were needed, so they requested an air ambulance doctor and critical care paramedic attend.
Within 12 minutes, a crew from the Derbyshire, Leicestershire and Rutland Air Ambulance (DLRAA) arrived in a critical care car.
Adrian was anaesthetised and intubated – interventions normally only carried out in a hospital.
This stabilised Adrian’s condition so that he could be taken to University Hospital in Coventry in the land ambulance.
The air ambulance doctor travelled with him and had to restart Adrian’s heart three times on the journey.
Adrian said: “I don’t take anything for granted and want to do as much as I can to pay back what the air ambulance did for me.
I cannot believe it is not funded by the NHS - it should be top of the list.
“I want to make people more aware of how hard the air ambulance crews work to save lives and the more money that can be given to the charity, the more emergency cover they can provide.”
Adrian’s partner Jane Staufenbiel had dialled 999 when Adrian complained of feeling unwell.
She said: “When the ambulance crew arrived, they said Adrian’s heart was racing and he needed to go to hospital.
“I got his dressing gown, and he gave me a kiss and said he would see me later.
“Adrian was taken out to the ambulance in a wheelchair, and I watched from the front window.
“It was very traumatic to watch what was happening to Adrian. The crews were so busy treating him they didn’t have time to talk to me, so I didn’t really know what was going on.”
It was not until she arrived at the hospital that Jane was told Adrian was still alive.
“Eventually I was told he might not come off the ventilator and if he did, he could be brain dead, so I was allowed in with the family to see him because they didn’t think he was going to make it. He is very, very lucky to be alive,” she says.
Doctors at the hospital discovered Adrian had a blocked artery and fitted a stent to improve his blood flow.
In October 2020, he had a heart bypass operation.
Adrian adds: “I don’t think I would be alive today if Jane had not called 999 and started the process that resulted in the air ambulance coming to me.
“I am therefore very passionate about raising funds for the charity.”
“I hope my story shows the knockon effect the charity has when it saves lives.
“You never know when you will need them, so please support the local air ambulance if you can.”