A QUICK-thinking brickie has saved the life of a woman by using CPR although he accidentally broke a few of her ribs in the process.
After needing to be resuscitated 11 times, Imogen Donaghy owes her life to brickie Adrian Rowe.
He spent 16 minutes trying to resuscitate her in a Cleveland bottle shop. She was in cardiac arrest for a further 29 minutes while five paramedics treated her with a defibrillator.
In a stroke of good luck, Mr Rowe had done a refresher cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) course just two days before.
He happened to be in the shop when Ms Donaghy was working last month. A regular customer, Mr Rowe was chatting to Ms Donaghy and another staff member when the 26-year-old felt light-headed.
“The last thing she said was ‘I am going to black-out’,” Mr Rowe said. “I thought it was a seizure and she was in among bottles so I went over to her. She was dead.”
Medical tests later found that Ms Donaghy has a rare heart condition.
Mr Rowe said he immediately started CPR, resuscitating Ms Donaghy three times, while the store manager called for an ambulance.
After paramedics arrived they continued to work on her, resuscitating her a further eight times. She was taken to hospital in a critical condition and spent days in intensive care.
Ms Donaghy remembers only getting into her car to go to work that morning about 11am. Her next memory is from her hospital bed five days later. She has since had surgery to insert a defibrillator to shock her if her heart fails again.
After further complications from blood clots in her arms, Ms Donaghy was able to return home from hospital.
She is still in pain as a result of ribs and her sternum being broken while she was being resuscitated.
“I would rather have broken ribs and be alive,” she said.
Mr Rowe said he had done a first aid course many years ago and did regular refresher courses to keep the qualification up to date.
He and Ms Donaghy emphasised the value of learning CPR and knowing the location of defibrillators.
“As soon as I have healed I am going to do a CPR course,” she said.
Feeling emotional about the experience, Ms Donaghy said she felt sorry for Mr Rowe and two store managers who were there.
“They had to watch it all and they had no idea if I would live,” she said. “I am just lucky that I was talking to Adrian at the time.”