“If it wasn’t for them doing CPR, I wouldn’t be here now. No doubt about it.”
Fewer than 1 in 10 people in the UK survive an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest. One of those survivors is 59-year-old Jeanette Trebilcock from Eastleigh, whose “Christmas just like any other” was suddenly interrupted.
On 29 December 2023, Jeanette, at home with her husband, daughter and six grandchildren, starts feeling unwell. Shaking uncontrollably, she collapses – her lips turning blue.
She is in cardiac arrest.
Jeanette’s husband, Frank, who is trained in basic first aid, springs into action. He immediately phones 999, drags Jeanette onto the floor and begins CPR on his wife of six years. Their neighbour and friend, Sharon, also trained in CPR, hears screams from the house and hurries round to help.
Jeanette, her husband Frank and daughter Lisa
Just five minutes later a road ambulance crew arrive and take over CPR – five minutes that ‘felt like a lifetime’ for Jeanette’s husband and daughter.
Due to the severity of Jeanette’s condition, the Hampshire and Isle of Wight Air Ambulance doctor and specialist paramedic team are dispatched just nine minutes later, landing in a nearby sports field.
Jeanette has been in cardiac arrest for almost an hour. She has no pulse or heart rate, but faint eye movements give the team a glimmer of hope.
The crew make the decision to perform a pre-hospital emergency anaesthetic – a procedure that can only be delivered by a helicopter emergency medical service team. They administer strong medication to sedate her and adrenaline to increase the chances of restoring a heartbeat.
They insert a breathing tube into Jeanette’s airway so they can carefully manage her breathing.
Almost an hour after the 999 call, the team manage to restore Jeanette’s heartbeat – but it has an abnormal rhythm (complete heart block). Using small pulses of electricity (external pacing) to get the heart back to the correct rate, Jeanette’s stable enough to transport to hospital by road ambulance, with the team travelling with her to continue her care.
“When I woke up a few days later and they told me the date, I was so confused. How could I not remember Christmas?” said Jeanette. “I feel very emotional about that, even now.”
Jeanette was diagnosed with a hypoxic brain injury, due to a lack of oxygen to her brain, a common complication of a cardiac arrest. Additionally, to help fix her heart problem, an internal pacemaker was fitted.
“I’m slowly getting back to normal. I try to remember back to that day, but it’s just awful.”
Would you know what to do?
For every minute that someone’s in cardiac arrest without receiving CPR, their chance of survival decreases by 10%. And just 51% of people in the UK say they would be able to perform CPR if a loved one had a cardiac arrest in front of them.
“As someone who needed it, I’d urge everyone to learn CPR,” said Jeanette. “You never know when you might need it.
“My grandchildren go to a school where they teach kids CPR – which is brilliant. My granddaughter said, ‘Nan, if you collapse again, I can do CPR on you.’
“I can’t thank everyone enough. From the team who came to me to Nikki from the Hampshire and Isle of Wight Air Ambulance Aftercare team, who opened my eyes. She went through every bit of detail on what happened to me.
“But it’s not just me who’s gone through this. I owe my life to my husband, my daughter, my neighbour and all the emergency services who helped me. I’m so grateful.
“I’m desperate to do some fundraising for the Air Ambulance when I’m better. Because if it wasn’t for them doing CPR, I wouldn’t be here now. No doubt about it.”
You can get CPR confident today by signing your club, group, school or business up to our CPR Skills for Life programme.
