... and I owe my life to guardian angel passing by
retired physiotherapist and grandfather of five, Malcolm robinson, 71, lives in Sutton Coldfield with his wife, Ann, 59. He owes his life to the prompt action of off-duty nurse Judy Lewis, who administered first aid after he collapsed suffering a cardiac arrest in April 2017. ‘I REMEMBER little of that day, except catching a bus into Birmingham to meet my wife and texting her to say I didn’t feel well,’ says Malcolm. ‘We went on a walk, only for me to keel over on the way to the restaurant.
‘A passer-by dialled 999, but mistook my gasps — a reflex that occurs when the heart stops beating — as a sign I was still breathing. As a result, the call wasn’t treated as an emergency. Thankfully, Judy happened to be driving past and stopped to help. She began CPR and, vitally, alerted the call handler that I was a non-breathing casualty.
‘Over the next 26 minutes, she twice got me breathing and laid me in the recovery position, only to “lose” me again and have to restart CPR. Another bystander, who we have never managed to trace, helped Judy, and between them they kept me going until paramedics arrived and re-started my heart with a defibrillator.
‘I needed emergency surgery to insert three stents to open the blocked blood vessel that had triggered my heart attack and subsequent cardiac arrest. Judy phoned the hospital to see if I was OK and spoke to Ann, who cried as she said she had been trying to find her to say thank you.
‘It was sobering to realise that, without Judy’s intervention, the outcome would have been very different.
‘A few months later, Judy came to a family lunch, which was emotional for us all.
‘I decided I needed to say thank you by giving something back. Together with the lead resuscitation officer from my local health trust, I formed CPR Counts — providing free, local life-saving courses. Knowing there are now 700 more potential lifesavers thanks to our courses is a great feeling.’