‘Thank you for saving my life’
AROYTON man who was placed in an induced coma for two weeks and almost died has had an emotional reunion with the Rochdale ambulance crew who saved his life.
David Pearson, 64, was asleep next to his wife in December 2016 when she heard him make a strange noise and noticed he had stopped breathing. It took paramedics over an hour to stabilise David enough to take him to Royal Oldham Hospital where his family were told to prepare for the worst. David was placed in an induced coma for two weeks and spent a total of two months at the hospital.
This week David and his wife Stella met up with the North West Ambulance Service staff at Rochdale ambulance station to thank them for saving his life.
Stella said: “It’s been a miracle that David is still here and we cannot thank these people enough for the fantastic work they have done. The ambulance crew and the staff at the hospital have all been absolutely amazing!
“I remembered how to do CPR from a training course over 10 years ago but I suppose it’s like riding a bike, once you learn you never forget! I would urge anybody to get clued up on these simple skills as you just never know when you might need to use them.”
After his miraculous recovery David, who is a retired teacher from Royton, is back to work writing GCSE and A level papers and playing walking football. Emergency Medical Technician Matthew Wrigley said: “Working for the ambulance service, we don’t always get feedback on the patients after they have left our care and hearing from patients such as David, who has made such a remarkable recovery, really brings home the reason that I do this job. David’s story really shows the importance of people in the community knowing how to do life-saving CPR skills.
“Those first few minutes before we arrive are crucial and it’s usually a family member or member of the public who does that allimportant job.
“If Stella hadn’t have acted so quickly, the outcome could have been completely different.”
Stella had been reading a book in bed next to David when she noticed he’d stopped breathing, and she frantically called 999 to find out what to do.
Emergency medical dispatcher Paul Matthews calmed her down and then advised her to start CPR, which helped save his life.
David received over an hour of CPR from paramedic staff and four defibrillator shocks before he was stable enough to go to hospital.