Ella Wilkins had been celebrating her 18th birthday at home with her family when her mum collapsed with a sudden cardiac arrest.
The distraught teenager called 999 and stayed on the line as her paramedic dad Phil could be heard in the background giving mum Cerys life-saving CPR.
Phil Wilkins gave chest compressions and rescue breaths to his wife of 20 years while the call handler talked Ella through what was happening and stayed on life until the ambulance arrived on the scene in Pentrebach.
Thanks to their quick-thinking mum-of-two Cerys is now on the road to recovery, and the family are urging everyone to learn life-saving CPR.
The family, including 15-year-old Coel, had enjoyed a small gathering in their back garden to celebrate Ella’s birthday.
But as the family were getting ready for bed, Cerys collapsed on the landing.
"We’d just watched an episode of Coronation Street and were getting ready for bed," said Phil, 50. "Cerys went to say goodnight to the children, and that’s when I heard a thud on the landing.
"I recognised straight away what was happening so I asked Ella to call 999, and that’s when I began CPR."
The family have agreed to allow a recording of the tape to be released in the hope it will help others.
Ella can be heard saying pleading with her mum to keep breathing saying: "I need an ambulance quickly. My dad is a paramedic, please, my mam has stopped breathing.
"I'm lying in bed and my man has just collapsed. She is not breathing, please, please."
She can then be heard urging her mum: "Come on mam. Come on mam."
It took six minutes for Phil’s colleagues to arrive on scene, where they delivered a shock to Cerys with a defibrillator which re-started her heart.
Phil, a paramedic of 16 years, said: “At not one point through the whole ordeal did I think of it as my wife.
“Instinct and training kicked in, and I just did what I had to do.
“It was only when the ambulance crew arrived did I take a step back – that’s when I fell to pieces.”
Cerys was taken to Cardiff’s University Hospital of Wales, where she is still undergoing treatment and tests.
It is hoped that Cerys, a former paediatric nurse at the hospital, will this week be fitted with a pacemaker and defibrillator before her discharge on the weekend.
The school nurse said: “I’d been to say goodnight to the kids and had gone to get some ironing.
“The next thing I remember was being in the back of an ambulance, and Phil and the kids were looking at me upset. I still can’t quite believe what happened, even now.”
As a teenager, Cerys was diagnosed with supraventricular tachycardia (SVT), a condition where your heart suddenly beats much faster than normal.
Six years ago, she underwent a procedure called an ‘ablation’ to fix the problem.
“But there was still no warning before I collapsed,” said Cerys. “No pain, palpitations or dizziness. I literally just went down.”
Phil, a paramedic and clinical team leader based in Merthyr Tydfil, has thanked the Welsh Ambulance Service colleagues who came to his wife’s rescue.
He said: “I think it probably got quite heated on the 999 call but it was distressing, especially for the children, and a million things go through your head.
“On behalf of the whole family, I’d like to thank my colleagues for their speedy response and professionalism – from the call handler to the allocator, to the paramedics and the doctors in the Emergency Medical Retrieval and Transfer Service.
“It was an amazing team effort, and we’re so grateful for everything they did.”
Cerys added: “I’ve been so well looked after by the Welsh Ambulance Service and the Emergency Department and Cardiology teams at the University Hospital of Wales.
“Words can’t express my gratitude – thank you is not enough.”
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This month, the Welsh Ambulance Service is celebrating its annual Shoctober campaign, which encourages people to learn CPR.
Phil said: “Every second counts when someone has a cardiac arrest, and what happened to Cerys just goes to show that it can happen to anyone, at any time.
“I obviously knew what to do because of my profession, but imagine if I’d have not been there.
“By taking a few minutes to learn some basic CPR skills, you can also save someone’s life.”
Click here to watch a new video from the Resuscitation Council about how to perform CPR through the Covid-19 pandemic.
