Newcastle man John Schiemer knows all too well the importance of learning CPR and having accessible defibrillators.
The 23-year-old can thank Hunter paramedics for saving his life after an un-diagnosed heart condition left him in serious trouble.
John suffered a sudden cardiac arrest in bed in the early hours of 4 April, 2019.
His parents woke to the sounds of abnormal breathing and moaning coming from his bedroom at 4.30am.
When they found him, John was face-down in bed with “his eyes rolling back and his tongue out”.
The pair immediately called triple-zero and began chest compressions.
Ambulance paramedics arrived shortly after, taking over the compressions and administering seven shocks from a defibrillator before John was stable.
He was then taken to the John Hunter Hospital emergency department.
“We don’t have the exact time but paramedics believe he was without oxygen for 24 minutes,” John’s parents told the Newcastle Weekly.
John is one of the lucky ones.
The tradesman from JDS Concreting and Services is one of the one per cent of people who suffer a sudden cardiac arrest and survive.
Eight out ten times a sudden cardiac arrest will happen in the home.
After two weeks in hospital, the Maitland Football Club member was diagnosed with Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, a condition which affects the electrical system of the heart.
John and his parents are now joining a week-long national campaign aimed at reminding people to learn CPR and where and how to get their hands on a defibrillator.
From 5 to 11 June, Australians will join the rest of the globe in marking World Heart Rhythm Week – Arrhythmia Alliance’s annual awareness week.
The group’s 2023 theme, ‘Take Fainting to Heart’, aims to promote awareness of the link between syncope and arrhythmias.
“There is no such thing as a simple faint. Know your pulse to know your heart rhythm”, states the group’s marketing.
John and his parents are using the week-long event to remind others that they can never be too prepared to act should someone go into sudden cardiac arrest.
The latest Heart Foundation data shows cardiovascular disease accounts for one in four of all deaths in Australia, claiming a life every 12 minutes.
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