Heart attack survivor reunites with paramedics

A man who survived a heart attack at home has been reunited with the ambulance crew who saved his life.

Tony Wright, from Fen Doddington, near Chatteris, Cambridgeshire, had been feeling unwell for several days and thought he had a chest infection.

On 30 October he began experiencing severe pain in his chest and after his wife called 999 paramedics Kelly Thompson and Zoe Dalby from East of England Ambulance Service NHS Trust (EEAST) were dispatched.

Wright said: "I thought my number was up that night, I really did. But these people saved my life. It's as simple as that."

While the crew were helping Wright, he went into cardiac arrest. The crew began CPR and used a defibrillator to shock his heart.

Wright said he was told he was having a heart attack by one of the crew members and said although it was "scary" it was "good to know what was happening".

"She gave me two tablets and, as I was taking them, I felt my head go back - and that was it.

"I was gone for two minutes. When I came to, one of my sons had arrived and he was saying, 'Come back Dad'," he added.

An additional ambulance crewed by Chloe Taylor and Paul Barnett arrived shortly afterwards, alongside Dan Read, a critical care paramedic from Magpas Air Ambulance.

Wright was transported to the Royal Papworth Hospital in Cambridge, where he had a stent fitted.

The former fire fighter and police detective said the experience had given him a new perspective of the emergency services.

After making a full recovery, he visited Huntingdon Ambulance Station to thank the EEAST's crews and Magpas team involved in his care.

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