Paramedic Suffers Heart Attack Whilst Treating A Patient Also Having Heart Attack
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A paramedic that was treating a patient having a cardiac arrest had a heart attack himself and was saved by his colleagues.
What seemed like a nightmare scenario soon turned into reality for Jeremy Williams, 53, who became seriously unwell while resuscitating a woman at her home.
Jeremy described feeling 'excruciating pain' while treating the patient, only for his colleagues to realise that he too needed urgent care.
His colleagues sprang into action, treating Jeremy and their initial patient side by side.
Both are making full recoveries and Jeremy has kept his spirits up about the ordeal, saying: "It was one of those things which never, ever happens.
''I can laugh about it now because I’m glad to be here, but if it hadn’t been for my colleagues it would be a completely different story."
As Jeremy explains, the day went from bad to worse pretty quickly: "We knew it was a bad job when we arrived because the patient’s condition was so serious, but it just seemed to get worse from there.
"I’ve come off a motorbike at high speed so know what pain is, but have never felt anything like I did on that day."
In fact, Jeremy's condition was so bad that his colleagues struggled to attach an ECG because his chest was pouring with sweat.
By the time they managed to fit the monitor and get a reading, they realised how serious the situation was, with Jeremy being rushed to a specialist hospital in Lister, where he had two stents put in.
It was a sobering experience, to say the least, but Jeremy feels lucky he had his colleagues by his side: "I now feel fine, but shudder to think what the outcome would be if this had happened on a country road in the middle of nowhere with no one else around.
''But for me, everything fell into place – if I was going to have a heart attack, I couldn’t have had it with better people around me.
"I will be forever grateful for the amazing team effort which helped to save two lives that day."
Shaun Whittington, who dealt with Jeremy's case in urgent care said of the incident: "I’ve been in this job for 22 years and have never heard of anything like this happening before, and really hope it never happens again."
According to the British Heart Foundation, one person in the UK is admitted to hospital every five minutes with a heart attack.
