"Against the Odds"

Classic situation, my wife was doing a jigsaw a few feet away, heard me make a funny noise and slump sideways. She obtained help (from the opposite neighbours, who were watching TV/knitting) to drag me out of the chair I was in, give cpr and dial 999 within about 30 seconds. The operator taking the call told my neighbour's wife, who was standing in the road to intercept the first responders, "you're just about to see our lights coming round the corner!"

My wife reports that the crew were calm and professional.

She accompanied them to Bath RUH, and then Bristol Heart Institute. She held my hand through the night.

By then I had been given several defibrillator shocks, hypothermia, and induced coma.

I came round in Intensive Care, progressed to the High Dependency Unit, and then an ensuite in ward 53. From there I was transferred to a ward for 4. A Medtronic cardioverter defibrillator was implanted in late May, and I was discharged the next day.

The doctors listened to our request that we would appreciate avoiding warfarin, and have put me on a drug which Bayer had been working on for a long time to improve on warfarin - Xarelto.

I am concerned by the published statistics on cardiac arrest, which seem to show I was one of the lucky ones. I mentioned that as an amateur movie-maker I am considering filming a reconstruction to get more of the public interested in cpr.