Southampton dad saved by sergeants who knew CPR

The 45-year-old lorry driver from Millbrook doesn't feel unlucky to have had a cardiac arrest.

He feels hugely fortunate to have had it when and where he did, with CPR experts on hand who kept him alive until an ambulance arrived, to the NHS who gave him world-class care, and to Wessex Heartbeat, for helping him to get fit again after his ordeal.

Paul had been in the Arny Reserves for just over a year when, in October, he started to feel cold, sweaty and generally out of sorts when he was at a physical training session at Blighmont Army Reserve Centre in Millbrook, and went for a lie down.

The next thing he remembers is waking up in intensive care and being told that he'd almost died.

What he doesn't remember, but has since been told, is that after being given a Coke and a Mars bar, he seemed better and stood up to leave, but collapsed.

Luckily, two of his sergeants, Sergeant Victoria Pimm and Sergeant Danny Wright, realised swiftly that he had had a heart attack and had stopped breathing.

Paul with his wife and daughter

He began vomiting violently and they cleared his airways and performed CPR until an ambulance arrived. He then had a further cardiac arrest and paramedics used a defibrillator to start his heart again.

Paul was rushed to Southampton General Hospital, where he was given a stent in his right artery, and spent eight days in intensive care.

"The first I knew of it, I was waking up in intensive care and my family told me that I was lucky to be alive," he says.

"I hadn't known what was going on but it was very hard on my wife, Katie, who was told that I might not make it or that I might have brain or organ damage.

"Katie has been amazing. For the first three months once I was back home, I could barely do anything around the house.

"I could wash the dishes, but then I'd have to sit down for an hour. She did everything – look after the house, look after me, look after our daughter and work part-time. I also got stressed about what had happened and how I felt, so she was having to walk on eggshells some of the time with me too," he adds.

"I actually found it really hard coming home from hospital at first, because I'd really missed my daughter, having not seen her for two weeks while I was in hospital, and I was so excited to see her again, but I couldn't pick her up or play with her, and I could only even say a few words before I was too tired."

Paul had had an active lifestyle before his heart attack, going to the gym three times a week, playing squash every week, and going road cycling or mountain biking at weekends.

But he admits that he would have been afraid to return to exercise if it were not for the support he received from Wessex Heartbeat.

He joined the charity's cardiac rehab scheme, which eased him back into exercise, with a specially tailor exercise plan, with nurses and physios on hand to monitor him.

Paul now runs regularly

"After four or five weeks of rehab, with advice from the nurses, I went for a run round the block, so I knew I was close to home.

"The rehab gave me the confidence to do it. I would have been too afraid of what might happen otherwise."

Paul has gradually built up his fitness and now does two 5k runs a week, as well as going for long bike rides.

"Sometimes when I'm cycling or out for a run, I get overwhelmed by what happened and the fact that I'm able to do what I'm doing," he says.

"I set realistic goals for myself. I think that's important, as people in my position can suffer depression.

"Every now and again, I get flashbacks. The other night, I was convinced that I'd woken up in intensive care, when I was in my own bed, and I also have the overwhelming realisation that I might easily not have still been here for my wife and daughter.

"I'm so lucky that I had a heart attack when and where I did. There were people there who were very experienced in CPR, who recognised what was happening to me and knew what to do.

"I was also very lucky to have an amazing doctor, Professor Nick Curzen, who is one of the top doctors in his field in the world. He, the intensive care staff and everyone in the NHS was amazing. How anyone can knock the NHS, I don't know.

"I've also been helped hugely by Wessex Heartbeat, which I why I took part in their recent fundraising show at the Mayflower, and I'm also going to be doing some further fundraising for them."

Paul knows how lucky he was to have people around him who knew how to perform CPR and is encouraging everyone to get trained in it.

"Everyone should know CPR, I can't stress that enough," he says.

He is also supporting a fundraising campaign to pay for a defibrillator to be placed in Blighmont Army Reserve Centre, which will be available for other groups as well as the Army Reserves to use, if needed.

"As a dad, what happened to me was very scary," he says.

"It's really made me realise how important it is that everyone knows CPR and that defibrillators are available, and how lucky we are to have the NHS."

* You can support the fundraising campaign to pay for a defibrillator at Blighmont Army Reserve Centre, at www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/victoria-pimm. For more information about Wessex Heartbeat, visit www.heartbeat.co.uk.