John owes his life to team-mates' knowledge of CPR
A LOCAL man who had a cardiac arrest during a game of cricket had his life saved by his teammates.
John Greenfield, 74, suffered a cardiac arrest last summer at Memorial Field.
The quick thinking of his team-mates meant his cognitive brain function was saved and he was able to return to work.
He shared his story this week for Restart a Heart Week in a bid to encourage more people to get to know what to do in a similar incident.
Mr Greenfield, a senior advocate in the island for many years, has no memories of the incident, but has pieced it together from what he had been told.
‘I was playing cricket like I do every week,’ he said.
‘I was talking to my teammate and suddenly had a cardiac arrest and went straight over.
‘Three of my teammates were active immediately. The one I was speaking to realised what had happened and put me in the recovery position, another started CPR straight away, breaking a few of my ribs in the process, and another who is a trained paramedic also came to the rescue.’
There is a defibrillator on site at Memorial Field which was used to shock Mr Greenfield twice.
It took four days at the PEH for him to be stable enough to be transferred to Southampton and he had several more heart attacks during this time.
‘I had none of the warning signs that people might get, such as breathlessness, chest pains or angina. I was active, a healthy weight, I’ve never really smoked or drunk alcohol and have no family history,’ said Mr Greenfield.
‘If a surgery is elective and orderly, it’s fine, but if like me you have a cardiac arrest out of the blue then it’s a whole different thing, and the survival rate for people who it happens to who aren’t in hospital at the time is less than 10%.’
Once in Southampton, he underwent a seven-hour surgery for a quadruple bypass.
He was put in an induced coma on full support for some weeks, and returned to Guernsey two months later.
‘Because I had all the tubes in for so long I struggled to swallow and speak and had to have speech therapy last September. I had a wonderful speech therapist who made me laugh and said all her patients were children apart from me,’ he said.
‘The medical staff were amazed that I haven’t lost any cognitive function. Even though I was told that here and in Southampton, I felt I needed to prove it to myself, which was why I was really keen to get back to work and use my brain function and solve problems, which is what I enjoy.’
The bystanders who came to Mr Greenfield’s aid saved his brain function and kept his organs alive.
‘CPR is going to keep the heart in a shockable rhythm but the quicker you can get a defibrillator on someone’s chest the better, and that’s one of the key points of their live being saved,’ said Mike Froome from the Cardiac Action Group.
‘When someone suffers a cardiac arrest, the role of a bystander can be crucial to saving a life and ensuring quality of life afterwards. Immediate, hands-only CPR and using an AED before the ambulance arrives can significantly improve survival chances. This is why Restart a Heart Week is so important.’
Restart a Heart Week, page 4
