Woman Reunited with Emergency Responders After Life-Saving Cardiac Arrest Intervention

A woman expressed gratitude to the emergency medical teams who rescued her from a cardiac arrest, stating that their intervention ensured “my children still have a mum”. She recently met with these crews. Sian Deeks, a 45-year-old resident of Scunthorpe, experienced a medical emergency on 7 June at her partner’s residence, where she lost consciousness and collapsed onto the kitchen work surface. The 999 call handler instructed her partner to position Ms Deeks on the floor and initiate cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR). Emergency medical personnel from East Midlands Ambulance Service (EMAS) and the Lincs and Notts Air Ambulance Service subsequently arrived, successfully restarting her heart using a defibrillator. The emergency medical adviser, Tim Higham-Jones, received Daniel’s call and provided instructions to place Ms Deeks on her back and perform resuscitation. Upon the arrival of ambulance and air ambulance teams, Ms Deeks’ airway was secured, CPR continued, and a defibrillator was connected. Following 17 minutes, EMAS administered two electrical shocks because Ms Deeks’ heart exhibited a “shockable rhythm.” She was subsequently transported via road to the Resuscitation Department at Scunthorpe General Hospital. The next morning, Ms Deeks experienced a second cardiac arrest while admitted to the Intensive Care Unit. After six minutes of receiving advanced life support, Ms Deeks successfully recovered. Ms Deeks commented: “I would never have thought I’d have gone into cardiac arrest ever,” she said.”You just never think it would happen to you.”I don’t remember any of it, but Daniel said he was calling out to me, and I wasn’t responding to him.”I’ve lived with heart failure for a few years now, so while he [her partner] didn’t know it was a cardiac arrest, he had an inkling it was due to a complication with my heart.” Ms Deeks expressed her gratitude to her partner and all the medical professionals involved in saving her life, preventing her children from “not having to scatter their mother’s ashes”. Specialist practitioner Steve Green, who responded to the 999 call, stated: “The advanced life support we delivered to Sian wouldn’t have been as successful, if it hadn’t been for Daniel taking instant action with bystander CPR.”While he was understandably quite emotional when we got there, we reassured Daniel that he’d given Sian the best chance of survival by delivering effective hands-on CPR at the earliest opportunity.” Ms Deeks remarked: “It’s been so nice getting to meet those involved in my critical care at the time it was needed, and it’s been amazing getting to know them and see what they all look like – before they were just names to me.“What’s happened just reiterates how important it is for everyone to know how to do CPR because you can literally save somebody’s life.”