Nathan Davies, 28, survived against all odds when he suffered a cardiac arrest and collapsed while working at food supplier Kepak, in Kirkham.
He owes his life to two fellow employees and his quick-thinking boss. Andrejs Bespalovs, 33, and Georgijs Kadakovs, 27, performed CPR on Nathan for more than 20 minutes before paramedics arrived.
And his boss raced back from a bowls game to apply the life-saving defibrillator. Warehouse worker Nathan said: “They saved my life and I owe massive thanks to them. You can’t really put it into words.
“The paramedics said they thought they were going to see a dead body because I shouldn’t have survived that long.
“Anyone else would have given up, but they kept going and going. They went above and beyond.” The incident happened on April 18, when Nathan began to feel unwell during work and headed to Kepak’s canteen shortly before 9.30pm to rest.
He said: “About five minutes after going into the canteen I was on my phone, texting. I dropped my phone and bent down to get it and that’s when my heart stopped. “I only remember coming back around and seeing one of the lads’ faces in front of me, and the next thing I saw was the paramedics.” Andrejs and Georgijs, who were both born in Latvia, alternated giving Nathan mouth-to-mouth and applying compressions to his chest. Andrejs said: “He was lying on his side so we got him onto his back. I could see that his face was blue and he couldn’t breathe so I realised I had to start doing CPR. I couldn’t say how I was feeling.
“I could hear he started to breathe and he was fighting for his life.” Nathan was eventually revived by his boss, James Grimston, 43, who used a defibrillator on him. Factory manager James was playing bowls at Kirkham Conservative Club when he received a panicked phone call from a colleague and rushed to the scene. He said: “They said Nathan was dead in the canteen. I said ‘what do you mean? He’s only 28’. “I spun the car around and flew into the factory. As I was running in I was shouting ‘have you used the defibrillator?’
“There was no sign of life from Nathan. The colour of his face was awful. The first-aider grabbed the defibrillator and we put it on his chest and shocked him.” Ambulance services were called and a rapid response vehicle arrived at the scene at 9.46pm, with an ambulance arriving some nine minutes later. Overall, it took approximately 40 minutes for Nathan to reach a stable condition. It was later discovered that the cardiac arrest was caused by an undiagnosed case of Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, a disorder which affects the electrical system of the heart and can in rare cases result in sudden cardiac arrest and death. Nathan, who lives on Kilnhouse Lane in St Annes, remains in Blackpool Victoria Hospital, where he is due to undergo an operation to implant a small defibrillator into his chest to regulate his heartbeat this week.
He said: “I’ve just got bruising on my chest from the CPR and it’s quite hard to sleep and shower, but I’m up and walking about. “I’m just lucky it happened at work and not when I was at home on my own. “If it wasn’t for James with the defibrillator, even with the CPR I don’t think I would have made it.” James said: “Seeing Nathan lying there, how everyone pulled together to bring him back was fantastic to see. It shows we have some truly great people working here and we’re looking forward to welcoming Nathan back soon.”
Nathan, who lives on Kilnhouse Lane in St Annes, remains in Blackpool Victoria Hospital, where he is due to undergo an operation to implant a small defibrillator into his chest to regulate his heartbeat this week. He said: “I’ve just got bruising on my chest from the CPR and it’s quite hard to sleep and shower, but I’m up and walking about. “I’m just lucky it happened at work and not when I was at home on my own. “If it wasn’t for James with the defibrillator, even with the CPR I don’t think I would have made it.” James said: “Seeing Nathan lying there, how everyone pulled together to bring him back was fantastic to see. It shows we have some truly great people working here and we’re looking forward to welcoming Nathan back soon.”
He said: “I’ve just got bruising on my chest from the CPR and it’s quite hard to sleep and shower, but I’m up and walking about. “I’m just lucky it happened at work and not when I was at home on my own. “If it wasn’t for James with the defibrillator, even with the CPR I don’t think I would have made it.” James said: “Seeing Nathan lying there, how everyone pulled together to bring him back was fantastic to see. It shows we have some truly great people working here and we’re looking forward to welcoming Nathan back soon.”
Read more at: http://www.lep.co.uk/your-lancashire/fylde-coast/man-28-thanks-colleagues-who-saved-his-life-after-heart-attack-1-8521570