Man hit his head and collapsed suddenly. A local politician with no medical training used his phone to save his life
A person might find themselves at the right place, at the right time and with the right skills to help a person in need. An MP also managed to do that for a 76-year-old after the man had a heart attack in a car park. The man, Chris Storey, had just had a meeting with the MP, Greg Stafford, when he started feeling light-headed. The rest of the events were a blur for him until he woke up again. But the moment he collapsed, Stafford called emergency services and worked to keep Chris alive until help arrived, per the BBC.
"I always thought he was a good man and now he is a hero to us," Chris, the local Conservative Party chair from Surrey, told the outlet. "If he hadn't been there, I wouldn't be here now." The man had lost consciousness while he was still at the car park after his meeting with the MP who heads Farnham and Bordon. He added, "I remember getting very light-headed and that was it before I woke up in the back of the ambulance." Stafford recounted, "Chris just collapsed on the floor, keeled over like a sack of potatoes. He hit his head on the floor and there was blood coming out." It was a very scary sight for the MP, who immediately called emergency medical services (999 for the UK) for help.
The dispatcher suggested that Stafford should perform CPR on Chris until help arrived at the location. Thankfully, the MP had taken a CPR course a few years back and could administer the same with the dispatcher's help. He didn't know any medical practices apart from CPR. Nonetheless, he turned out to be a big help in keeping Chris alive. "It was a shocking incident, but I was just pleased to be able to do something to help him." Stafford expressed that he was "not a superhero, just in the right place at the right time." He went on, "Having the professionals there was really essential as they are the real superheroes."
Stafford shared that the incident had taught him the real importance of learning CPR. "The real thing it taught me was to brush up on my CPR skills. You never know when this is going to happen to you." According to the American Red Cross, there are around half a million cardiac arrests every year and CPR can be life-saving in many instances. It can be helpful when a person's breathing or heart stops. Each minute of intervention might make a difference to a person's survival in case of a cardiac arrest, according to the source.
Chris had started gaining consciousness in the ambulance itself and was taken to the hospital for further treatment after that. The doctors put a stent in Chris and he went through a triple heart bypass sometime after that. He was feeling much better after the treatment. "I'm not in pain and the scars are healing up gradually." Chris's wife, Judith, was also really thankful for what the MP did for them. "Greg was amazingly calm. He was just brilliant. There are no words big enough to express our gratitude for giving us more tomorrows."