Father-to-be who was given lifesaving CPR by his 39-week-pregnant wife thanks emergency services
Sam King’s wife, Emma, gave birth four days after saving her husband
A father-to-be who was given lifesaving CPR by his 39-week-pregnant wife has thanked emergency services and health professionals who helped him to make a full recovery.
Sam King, 26, suffered a sudden cardiac arrest on the third floor of his home in Hedge End earlier this year.
His wife, Emma, who was 39-weeks pregnant at the time with the couple’s first child, immediately dialled emergency services and administered lifesaving CPR to her husband, guided by the 999 call handler.
“Emma was incredibly calm, and she did exactly what I was asking her to do,” said Sarah Smith, the South Central Ambulance Service emergency call taker who answered the phone that day.
“It was only by her quick actions in immediately starting CPR that ultimately gave Sam the chance of surviving once all the additional help arrived.”
When the ambulance crews arrived, they faced the added challenge of getting their equipment up two flights of stairs before they could give Mr King any treatment.
Mr King received 11 shocks from a defibrillator along with other lifesaving treatment, but after two hours of being unconscious on the floor, paramedics and an emergency doctor were considering whether to continue treatment or not.
“A downtime of almost two hours usually means the outcome is unlikely to be survivable, or only survivable with the patient suffering life-changing effects, so I think we all hoped for the best, but were fearing the worst,” said emergency doctor, Dr Edward Langford.
When electrical activity was discovered in Mr King’s heart, it was decided that he still had a chance to pull through and needed to be rushed to University Hospital Southampton.
Sam was in a critical condition with multiple organ failure and was transferred to St Thomas Hospital in London for treatment, where he spent 12 days in the intensive care unit and then a further five days in the ICU back at UHS.
“We didn’t know, and no one could really tell us what sort of condition Sam might be in if he were to come out of his induced coma and survive,” said Mrs King. “We just had to wait and hope.”
Four days after Mr King’s cardiac arrest, his wife gave birth to a healthy baby girl, Sophie, and the first indication that things might be looking positive for Mr King’s recovery was the first time he saw his new baby daughter.
“He was trying to hold her and there were tears coming from his eyes,” said Mrs King.
After a total of 33 days in hospital, Sam was discharged to continue his recovery and has since made a complete recovery.
“Amazingly, I feel completely normal – and apart from a few scars in various places – there’s nothing really to show what I’ve been through,” said Mr King. “ I feel like I’m back to living as normal a life as a I did before.”
Mr King met with the 11-strong team of members of the ambulance service, fire and rescue service and an emergency doctor on Thursday, 16 July, so he could say thank you in person for saving his life three months previously.
“Obviously I don’t remember anything that happened that day”, said Mr King, “but it was important for Emma and I to reach out and meet everyone involved face-to-face because without all of them doing what they did that night, I wouldn’t be here today.”
“To be able to meet the team and say thank you in person has been really special. I’ve absolutely no idea how I’m still alive but very grateful that I am,” he said.
“I’ll never forget the second chance they’ve given me.”