Adam Kelly was on a lunchtime run when he witnessed someone collapse from cardiac arrest. This is the story of how he used his CPR skills – learned by playing Lifesaver to save the person’s life, in Adam’s own words.
“My wife showed me the Lifesaver App at home one evening and encouraged me to watch the interactive video of what to do when you come across someone having a cardiac arrest.
Literally two days later I was on a lunchtime run along Victoria Embankment in London, when I saw a jogger had collapsed in front of me. He had suffered a cardiac arrest, was on his front and gasping intermittently. I knew what to do and had the confidence to do it because of the Lifesaver App.While on the phone with the ambulance service, we (I was joined by another jogger) checked for consciousness: he was unconscious. We moved him onto his back, opened his airway and checked for breathing and pulse (his breathing was only an occasional gasp and we found no pulse).
We started chest compressions – at this point a St John Ambulance happened to pass and the crew carried out the compressions. A taxi then pulled over that had a defibrillator in his boot.
If I hadn't watched the Lifesaver App video I would have not considered using the defibrillator as I assumed you needed some expertise to operate it. This is not the case – once you attach it to the victim and turn it on, it monitors the heart rhythm and it decides to shock the victim or not. As it turns out, as we were about to use it the ambulance service arrived and took over. The man was shocked several times on the pavement and was in hospital for several weeks but survived.”
