We were delighted to welcome Nicholas ‘Nicho’ Shorvon to Wexham Park Resource Centre last month.
Nicho had got in touch as he wanted to personally meet and say thank you to the SCAS and Thames Valley Air Ambulance (TVAA) team who saved his life when he suffered a cardiac arrest at home in Burnham, Berkshire, on 11 November last year.
Nicho was at home with his wife, Kate, having just dropped off their young children at a party when he began feeling unwell and collapsed. Kate immediately called 999 and with the support of emergency call taker, Shaun, was able to carry out CPR on her husband as a number of resources were immediately despatched by Lara , with Shaun and Lara supported in the control room by team leader, Rosie and shift officer, Alice.
First to arrive at the couple’s home were paramedics Katie and Sebastian, followed shortly afterwards by team leader, John, and a second ambulance crew of paramedic, Georgie, and emergency care assistant Simon. The team were later joined and supported by TVAA paramedic Nick and Dr Guy. The team worked for an hour on Nicho, giving him 13 shocks from a defibrillator and all possible drug and therapeutic interventions before he was stable enough to be transported to Wexham Park Hospital.
At hospital, it was discovered one of his arteries was completely blocked and he had the blockage cleared and a stent fitted. Further heart issues, including an arrythmia, were identified and Nicho was subsequently transferred to the Royal Brompton Hospital in London where they carried out an AF ablation and he had an implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD) fitted.
Apart from some memory loss of the time before and after the emergency, and subsequently some difficulty remembering names, he has gone on to make a full recovery, returned to work and is able to exercise every day.
John told Nicho that if it wasn’t for his wife, Kate’s, excellent CPR (lasting about 9 minutes) then the interventions that the team then gave would likely not have led to the same incredible recovery. John was joined by Katie, Georgie and Sebastian in saying how delighted they all were to see him looking so well – it was a job that the whole team remember vividly and will continue to do so.
Nicho very kindly presented a gift to the SCAS team who responded to his home, and also left cards for all the SCAS and TVAA team members involved with a heartfelt message of thanks from him, his wife, his parents and children for giving him a second chance at life.