Wendy Mayne and her husband, Dave, recently visited Reading Ambulance Station to say thank you to the team that saved Wendy’s life when she suffered a cardiac arrest in March last year.
Wendy and Dave had recently returned from a holiday to Tenerife, and on the evening of Saturday, 23 March, she began feeling unwell with chest pains at the couple’s home in Wokingham. Dave called 999, with the call picked up by emergency call taker, Emily Coggan, who then worked with emergency despatcher, Conwae McCarthy, to get a response sent swiftly to Wendy and Dave.
Paramedic, Caitlyn Blackmore, and emergency care assistant, Sam Raison, arrived first and began assessing Wendy, but her condition deteriorated rapidly and she went into cardiac arrest. Caitlyn and Sam were swiftly backed up by Southern Medical Rescue ambulance crew, paramedic Craig Sheppard, and student paramedic Kieran Cross, along with paramedic team leader, Kirsty Bayley.
The SCAS and SMR team carried out resuscitation and administered two shocks to Wendy before they were able to achieve ROSC, and stabilised her before transporting her to the Royal Berkshire Hospital in Reading. Wendy spent 10 days in the intensive care unit, and a further nine days in the hospital’s cardiac care unit before being discharged to continue her recovery at home. At the time of her visit in September, she had just increased her hours back at work to almost pre-cardiac arrest levels (21 hours) as an advanced nurse practitioner at a GP surgery in Woking.
Wendy said: “Both Dave and I really wanted to meet the team again, not just to say thank you for saving my life, but as a nurse myself I had some questions about what happened and the treatment I received, particularly as none of the tests I’ve had at hospital have been able to find a reason for what happened to me.”
“It’s scary to think that one moment you’re enjoying a lovely holiday with your family and 48-hours later, with no warning, you’re fighting for your life.”
“Today has really helped Dave and I come to terms with what happened and we do feel a sense of turning a corner. And if it wasn’t for the amazing people from SCAS and SMR helping us that night, along with the hospital team at Reading, we wouldn’t have so much more to look forward to in life.”
Wendy and Dave are photographed with (left-to-right) Caitlyn, Sam, Kieran and Craig
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