Mrs Behavin
Well-Known Member
When paramedics managed to restart Keith Rosser's heart they could have been forgiven if they had felt a touch of pride for saving his life.
But their work was only just beginning. The company director immediately suffered another heart attack and over the next 40 minutes they were forced to shock him back to life 11 more times as his heart kept stopping.
Yesterday, 58-year-old Mr Rosser thanked Gareth Jones and Roger Hubbard for saving his life.
"I feel much better now and it's all thanks to the ambulance crew that I am here at all," he said. "They were absolutely marvellous. I'm just so grateful to them."
Mr Rosser and his wife Susan were spending a weekend at their caravan in Lydstep Haven, near Tenby, West Wales, when he collapsed with chest pains.
He knew it was a heart attack after suffering a slight coronary eight years ago so asked his wife to dial 999.
Paramedics arrived at the caravan park within eight minutes. Mr Jones, 39, said: "When we got there he didn't look too bad - he was a bit grey and sweaty.
"But once we put the electrocardiograph on him it told a different story - basically he was having a massive heart attack in front of us. I charged up the defibrillator and we shocked him and his pulse came back.
"But moments later it went again and so I gave him another shock, once again resulting in a pulse. He kept suffering cardiac arrests - it happened ten times and each time we got a pulse.'
The crew then gave Mr Rosser an anti-blood clot injection but he suffered two more arrests before he was stable enough to be flown to hospital by air ambulance.
Mr Jones said: "I've been a paramedic for five years and I've never known us have to shock someone 12 times. It's incredible really.
"As the helicopter was lifting off an overwhelming sense of what had just occurred dawned on me and made me feel immensely proud and somewhat emotional."
Mr Rosser, a non-smoker, spent six days in hospital, where a stent - a small mesh tube - was fitted to keep a damaged artery open. He was readmitted ten days later with complications but is now back home in Treharris, South Wales, where he is 'doing well'.
Heart attack victim died and was brought back to life 12 times | the Daily Mail