A father who suffered a cardiac arrest as he arrived at hospital and needed three shocks from a defibrillator has met the ambulance crew who saved his life.
Bill Healy, 71, from Mansfield started to experience pains in his chest while he was sat at home alone watching TV on May 7 this year and he initially put this discomfort down to heartburn.
However, it quickly became apparent that he was having a heart attack, which turned into a cardiac arrest as the ambulance arrived at hospital.
Bill said: “My wife Susan had been out shopping and when she came back she took one look at me and said that I looked rough.
“That’s when I went upstairs to go and lie down on my bed and Susan decided to follow me as she was concerned.
“The pains in my chest started to shoot down my arm and that is when Susan decided to ring the ambulance for me.”
Susan was right to phone 999 as Bill was experiencing a heart attack, a serious medical emergency in which the supply of blood to the heart is suddenly blocked, usually by a blood clot.
Susan said: "He was sweating and he was looking pretty grey so I just picked up the phone for an ambulance.
"The lady on the phone was brilliant and she told me what to do, which included giving Bill some aspirin, putting the dog away and ensuring the door was open.
"As soon as I had done all that I looked out of the window and the ambulance was there."
Ambulance Technicians Simon Parry and Daniel Severn arrived on scene first and confirmed he was having a heart attack and so requested back up from Paramedic Kevin Topliss and at the time Trainee Paramedic Jonny Fendley.
Simon said: "Bill was not quite 'with it' when we arrived on scene and we performed some tests on him that showed that he was having an acute heart attack at that time.
"At that time we requested additional backup as an extra pair of hands should we have needed them and we started to remove Bill was his house using a carrier chair.
Jonny said: "I was a student paramedic at the time and I was mentored up with Paramedic Kevin Topliss at the time.
"When we arrived Simon and Daniel were already with Bill in the back of the ambulance so Kev and I got on and assessed their previous tests and that just confirmed what they already knew, that Bill was definitely having a heart attack."
On the way to hospital Bill was cannulated and given morphine, as he was in a lot of discomfort at the time.
Susan said: "I was in the passenger seat of the ambulance and while Simon was driving us there he was explaining everything that was happening with Bill's treatment which put me at ease."
“This didn’t last long as Bill went into cardiac arrest as soon as we arrived at Nottingham City Hospital.”
The ambulance crew shocked Bill three times in the hospital corridor before getting him over to the catheterisation laboratory for further assessment and treatment.
Susan said: “Bill and I have been married for 45 years and the moment he went into cardiac arrest was the moment that I genuinely thought I was going to lose him.
“Once Bill was stabilised and Simon told me that they had managed to get him back, it meant the world!”
Bill was in hospital for nine days.
During that time, he had a stent fitted to help keep the arteries in his heart open and he was also put on painkillers.
Bill said: “I can’t remember much of my medical ordeal which includes the crews arriving at my house or the journey to hospital, but I know my wife remembers everything and she said they were marvellous.
"If things hadn't of gone the way they did and the ambulance crew never arrived, then I wouldn't be here right now.
"I literally owe my life to the crews that turned up and got me to the City Hospital, kept me going until they got me there and got me onto the surgery table."