Saved in heartstopping scare
‘I could have died that night, it was so close’
Fitness instructor Annie Tausi was dancing by the side of a pool, running an aqua Zumba class, when she suffered a massive heart attack.
She was lifeless when she hit the deck. But quick thinking lifeguards at Auckland’s Onehunga YMCA and, critically, the availability of a defibrillator, saved her.
Yesterday, at Auckland City Hospital, there was a tearful reunion as Tausi embraced the two young women who remained composed under enormous pressure.
Poolside lifeguard Eleanor Mulrennan and head lifeguard on duty Michaela Housiaux-Andrews had been first to respond when swimmers alerted them to Tausi’s plight.
Mulrennan started CPR and told someone to call an ambulance.
Housiaux-Andrews, 21, who was using the pool defibrillator for the first time, got the device ready while Mulrennan pumped oxygen from a tank.
For a long minute and a half there was no response.
‘‘Every compression felt like a lifetime,’’ Housiaux-Andrews said. ‘‘It’s one thing doing it on a stranger but when it’s somebody you know, it’s really scary and it feels so long.’’
But after two shocks, the defibrillator got results.
‘‘I can’t really explain the feeling when she started breathing again. I was just so grateful that we had the equipment.’’
Housiaux-Andrews, who has been a lifeguard since she was 14, said instinct took over in the moment and she was able to stay composed.
‘‘You switch on and it’s go time, you don’t notice anything else around you, you do your job, you make sure everyone else knows what they’re doing and you get it done. You don’t really realise the extent of what’s going on until afterwards and the paramedics turn up and it starts to sink in.’’
Paramedics were there within 10 minutes and encouraged her to continue the compressions.
She then rode in the ambulance with Tausi, before a nervous wait in hospital.
‘‘The drive to the hospital, I was just hoping and crossing everything and really just wishing everything was going to be OK. I just can’t even explain that feeling.’’
Yesterday’s reunion at the hospital was an emotional occasion.
‘‘The last time I saw her she was on the ground and her skin was cold and I was giving compressions,’’ Housiaux-Andrews said. ‘‘She was literally dead until we revived her in my hands, and so to walk into the room and see her smiling and to be able to hug her, there were a lot of tears.
‘‘Just to feel her warm, we were kind of lost for words, crying. There’s not really much to say. For her, thank you is never going to be enough for a life, and for me I don’t want her to say thank you, I was just doing my job, it’s what being a lifeguard is all about.’’
It was a life-changing experience: ‘‘As cheesy as it sounds, life is short and can be taken away at any time, so you need to appreciate things in life, even the little things. It’s changed my outlook on life quite a bit.’’
Tausi does not remember much of May 10, the day she nearly died.
There were no warning signs of the heart attack.
‘‘I’m a self-wellness person. I don’t drink or smoke and I work out every day, then I end up in this situation. I had a lot of questions. I was angry and I didn’t understand why this happened.’’
Support from friends and family during her 18 days in Auckland City Hospital has been overwhelming, and she found the whole experience humbling.
‘‘I could have died that night, it was so close.’’