There were hugs and tears as a cyclist who collapsed in a car park after suffering a massive heart attack was reunited with the strangers who saved his life.
James Heywood lost consciousness due to a blocked major artery while riding his bike past Motor Bodies Widnes at around 1pm on June 15 last year.
This week James and husband Nathan Shillcock visited the garage to meet and thank passer-by Colette Bourke who found James lying unresponsive and “screamed” for help, Rachel Pepper-Brown who rang 999, and Julie Major and Alan Shepphard who gave CPR, as they shared the story of how James survived with the ECHO.
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Easyjet cabin crew member James was riding home on his bike when he collapsed in heart failure in the car park of the garage on Lunt’s Heath Road.
First to find him was passer-by Colette, who was on the way to a family member’s house when she saw a pair of legs on the ground that she initially took for a mechanic working on the underside of a car.
She then saw a bike and as she moved closer realised it was someone unconscious.
As the cyclist was between two vans, she couldn’t move him.
Speaking to James she said: “I couldn’t get in, you were lodged between two vans. I screamed for a young lad to go and get help, you were too heavy to get you out.
“I ran to the door and they all ran out, I ran back to you screaming and they tried to haul you out.”
The “young lad” was Connor Kilgannon, an estimator in the car workshop, who raised the alarm with colleagues.
Alan Shepphard, quality control manager, recalled his shock, he said: “Connor burst through the door, I could tell something was wrong.
“He said ‘there’s a guy collapsed on the car park’. I followed him out and saw Julie.”
Julie Major was working in the Motor Bodies Widnes office when she heard Connor’s calls for help and as the site’s primary first aider jumped into action.
As she rushed outside, colleague Rachel Pepper-Brown called 999.
Rachel would stay on the line throughout the incident relaying information between the control room and her workmates trying to save James until an ambulance arrived.
Outside, Julie faced a critical decision over whether to move James, fearing he might have had a spinal injury.
She decided to move him and start CPR.
Colleagues helped to lay him down and Julie set to work, pumping his chest and giving mouth to mouth resuscitation - ignoring any risk of catching Covid, and pumping his chest again.
It was a tiring effort, and Alan, also a first aider, was on hand to take turns.
When Julie rested, Alan stepped in, knitted his fingers and carried on with chest compressions, while breaking to shout at James to try to prompt a response.
They lost a sense of time and couldn’t tell how long it was until the ambulance arrived but Alan remembered he gave “30 compressions four times - but you’re stopping and trying to get a response”.
Jame’s husband Nathan has kept details of events and said the ambulance arrived 10 minutes after James’s collapse.
Another member of staff retrieved the garage’s defibrillator, which director Wayne Harrison had bought several years ago for the site and made available for use to whoever needed it.
Critically - Julie and Alan’s CPR efforts not only kept James alive but changed his heart from being in a state where an electric shock to restart his heart wouldn’t have worked to one where it would - and paramedics were able to restart James’s heart by applying two defibrillator shocks.
Nathan, who works as a nurse at Aintree University Hospital, said: “I’ve been told the time from the paramedics to when they handed over to A&E (accident and emergency) was 18 minutes.
“James was in non-shockable rhythm - the defibrillator wouldn’t have been any use.
“CPR is what flipped James’s heart into VF - ventricular fibrillation - a shockable rhythm.
“Without that, James’s heart would never have started. It was because of continuous CPR from the moment they found him (it restarted).”
Nathan received a call from the police to say James had taken ill and was at Aintree hospital - where Nathan was working at that very time.
He later realised he must have walked past A&E three times while his husband was inside the ward.
After being stabilised and transferred to intensive care, James spent 10 days in an induced coma.
James was in Aintree for four weeks and was transferred to Liverpool Heart and Chest Hospital, where it was found a blocked left main artery had triggered his heart attack
Nathan said this type of attack is so lethal its nickname is the “widowmaker”.
James also suffered a brain injury caused by a loss of oxygen supply resulting in some memory loss, for which he continues to receive rehabilitation.
He spent eight weeks in hospital and underwent robotic keyhole heart surgery conducted by leading surgeon Mr Paul Modi, who Nathan said was the only surgeon in the country who could have performed the operation and happened to be based at the Liverpool Heart and Chest Hospital.
Mr Modi returned from a period of annual leave to carry out the surgery.
Having been discharged from hospital into Nathan’s care, James’s rehabilitation continues, but the Motor Bodies Widnes staff were stunned by his recovery and how much better he looked when James and Nathan returned to say thanks on Wednesday, bearing a stack of fresh pizza for the entire staff, a large cake bearing the message “Thank you, love James”, flowers, balloons, and gratitude.
The moment had extra poignancy as the couple marked their sixth anniversary at the weekend as well as James’s 33rd birthday.
James told the group: “Thank you all, I really appreciate it.
“If it wasn’t for you I probably wouldn’t be here saying thank you.”
Asked what being reunited meant to him James, who was otherwise fit and healthy before his collapse, said: “It’s a lot. I keep asking questions about what you guys did.
“I’m trained to give first aid to do the job I do, it’s one of the things you get to do.
“For someone to do it and you don’t know the person and you saved my life, thank you.”
Nathan thanked the group whom he branded “heroes” and “guardian angels” and he paid tribute to the “amazing” NHS staff who looked after James from the North West Ambulance Service paramedic who first treated him, Aintree A&E and intensive care, through to the Liverpool Heart and Chest Hospital and the Halton community rehabilitation team now working with James.
Emphasising what their combined contribution meant to him, he said: “This weekend for me and James was our sixth wedding anniversary and James’s 33rd birthday.
“Without you guys and the work you did on that day, I would never have been able to celebrate.
“Words can’t describe how grateful we are.
“These (gifts) are just small tokens of our appreciation.
“I can’t thank you enough for giving us - and his parents and siblings - the opportunity to spend more time with James.
“It’s amazing what you’ve done.”
James added: “Thank you, all of you.”
Director Wayne Harrison spoke of his pride in his team.
He said: “I arrived about five minutes after the event and before the ambulance and everyone had kicked into action.
“It just seemed like a natural flow of events and everybody moved into action and did their bit.
“It was amazing.”
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