‘My brother is one of the lucky ones. He survived a cardiac arrest.’
'My brother is one of the lucky ones. He survived a cardiac arrest.'
CPR training, publicly available defibrillators and a willingness to help are vital to improve the chance of survival after a cardiac arrest. By Professor Sandra Eades AO, University of Melbourne
My brother, a 60-year-old Aboriginal man, recently had a heart attack in a public park on a sunny Sunday whilst celebrating the birthday of his three-year-old granddaughter.
He went into cardiac arrest.
He was surrounded by family when he began to feel himself blacking out. He reached out and grasped a nearby pole and slid slowly to the ground.
His adult children rushed over to check if he was OK. They found he had no heartbeat and was not breathing.
Six months on, he is alive and has recovered and that’s why I’m telling this story, because I want to challenge people to get trained and to be prepared to help if they witness a cardiac arrest.