Fareham pastor undergoes resurrection – after heart attack on Flip Out trampoline stops his heart for 15 minutes
A PASTOR from Fareham has his own spin on the Easter story – after dying and being brought back to life during a family day out at a trampoline park.
Chris Wickland, a senior pastor at the Living Word Pentecostal Church, in Henry Cort Drive, in Fareham, was enjoying a day out with three of his children at Flip Out, in Chandler’s Ford, when he began to feel unwell.
The 47-year-old said: ‘I was jumping around and doing my thing. Then at one point I just blacked out at the side of the trampoline.
‘When I came around I felt uncomfortable and told the kids to get ready to go.
‘I went to the changing room, and I just started to be sick everywhere.’
Staff were alerted to the medical emergency and called an ambulance, as well as administering CPR and using a defibrillator on the priest to restart his heart.
Chris said: ‘I had just gone – my heart gave out.
‘Flip Out staff spent 15 minutes with the ambulance service advising on the phone, they did chest compressions and shocking me with the defibrillator four times.
‘When the ambulance driver arrived he said he'd never seen someone come back after four shocks in his 24 years on the job.’
The dad-of-five was rushed to Southampton General Hospital, where medical staff feared he had suffered brain damage due to a prolonged period of being clinically dead.
Kelly Dewey, Chris’s wife and a pastor, was told her husband would most likely need care for the rest of his life should he survive the incident on Friday, November 29.
She said: ‘Some 95 per cent of survivors suffer some degree of brain damage.
‘But thanks to prayers, the Flip Out team, the availability of the defibrillator and the staff of the hospital, Chris has made a full recovery both physically and mentally.’
Chris added: ‘I've seen some cool miracles in my time but absolutely this is the most miraculous. The stats were all against me – it's incredible.’
The day could have ended in tragedy, had it not been for the reaction of staff at the trampoline centre, according to Kelly.
She said: ‘There had been some debate about where the family would go that day. If they had not chosen Flip Out I'm convinced Chris would not be with us today.’
Now staff at the trampoline park can see the funny side of the heart-stopping incident.
Chris added: ‘They've said they'll put up a little photograph permanently banning me from the place in the future - in a joking way.’