Have you or someone you know been affected by Cardiac Arrest?

Whether you are a bystander, survivor, or co-survivor, if you need support following an out of hospital cardiac arrest please contact us:

Our Life After Cardiac Arrest (LACA) group helps facilitate peer support as well as sign posting to additional services and networks. 

Together we will help you find the hope and support you need, as there is life after cardiac arrest.

Read Gwen and Bob's story

Photo of Gwen and Bob at their wedding.pngGwen and her then long-term partner Bob describe the day it happened as just an ordinary day. Despite being Valentine’s Day, they had gone about their day, before having dinner and watching a bit of TV before bed. Around 20 minutes later Bob said he didn’t feel right, so went downstairs and took his blood pressure. He noticed his pulse was rising and his blood pressure dropping so rang 111 where he was told to go straight to hospital. Bob said he was tired and wanted to lie down. A few minutes later he began feeling worse and told Gwen he thought he was having a heart attack. Bob sat on the stairs while Gwen rang 999 and as the call handler answered, Bob collapsed.

The call handler told Gwen she needed to start chest compressions. Under their guidance, Gwen said it felt like someone else took over in her head as she started CPR. Her message to anyone else feeling scared in that situation is to not worry, don’t feel inadequate – just follow the instructions. Paramedics arrived and worked on Bob for 40 minutes, shocking him five times. The weather was too bad for the air ambulance to land, so Bob was taken to the Emergency Department at St Mary’s Hospital and put in a coma before being moved to ICU. He was then transferred to QA Hospital later that day.

After three weeks in hospital, Bob returned home, but during that time also proposed to Gwen. They were married three months later. Gwen added, “We called it a Celebration of Love and Life. And we’ve kept the same ethos every Valentines Day - love and life, entwined, equally important and precious.”

Gwen feels that the Life After Cardiac Arrest (LACA) support network has been incredibly helpful to her and Bob in different ways. She added, “It’s hard for people to understand that you watched your loved one die, but the LACA group showed me that I wasn’t alone. Family and friends were incredibly supportive and caring, but they didn’t get it like those in the group do. As co-survivors, we need information to make sense of what happened too and help separate the emotion from the facts. We still have tears and low moments because the shock never leaves you, but I really believe it’s important to seek out others who have also lived through the same experience.”