Survivor Stories

Hello! My name is Kayleigh. At the age of 31, I experienced a cardiac arrest while at home.

Fortunately for me, my husband Ben had been on a CPR course just a few weeks earlier, and started CPR without delay.

Ben continued CPR for 23 minutes before the ambulance arrived - he saved my life.

I'm Paul, and I was 34 years old when I had my cardiac arrest.

I had just finished teaching a guitar class when my heart stopped beating and I collapsed to the floor.

Luckily I was spotted by staff members Janet and Andrew, who started CPR and used the school's defibrillator to shock me back to life.

I had no prior symptoms and had no idea that I had been born with a rare heart condition.

My name is Joanne, and at the age of 48 I collapsed in my bedroom at home, hitting my head as I fell.

My daughter Melissa, who was 12 at the time, heard the thump and rushed into the bedroom. She found me collapsed and unconscious on the floor. Taz, Melissa’s brother (aged 16) called 999.

The ambulance operator very quickly realised that I had experienced a cardiac arrest. My heart was no longer beating. The ambulance operator helped Taz to issue CPR instructions to Melissa.

Melissa, my 12-year-old daughter, saved my life by continuing CPR until the ambulance arrived.