Dad survives two cardiac arrests after falling ill after go-karting at Lakeside shopping centre

A dad who collapsed and suffered two cardiac arrests after a family day out has been reunited with the paramedics who helped to save him.

John Arthur, from Chainhurst, near Marden, had been go-karting at Lakeside Shopping Centre in Essex on October 30 last year when he started experiencing chest pain and began feeling hot and clammy.

His daughter Charlee initially called an ambulance but then decided to drive her dad to Darent Valley Hospital in Dartford alongside her mum Linda, after being told there would be a wait time of 40 minutes.

As the family arrived at the ambulance bay at the hospital, John lost consciousness in the back of the car.

Paramedics Domantas Burneckas and Sarah Blackwell, and associate ambulance practitioner Lucy Rust, heard screaming coming from the vehicle, and John was pulled out and given CPR.

After confirming John was in cardiac arrest, Dom delivered a shock with a defibrillator and achieved a return of spontaneous circulation (ROSC).

John then woke up, but while being taken to St Thomas’ Hospital in London in an ambulance, he had a second cardiac arrest.

Resource dispatcher Praise Popoola, from the emergency operations centre in Gillingham, and crewmates Ellie Williams and Louise Norman, who had just completed a London transfer, were deployed to assist at the roadside in Lewisham.

The team successfully achieved a second ROSC, and John then spent five days at St Thomas’. He had two stents fitted to widen the blocked artery.

Twelve weeks later, John visited the Dartford ambulance station with his family to reunite with the team who helped to save his life.

His brother-in-law has since organised a first aid training session at their local village hall, teaching residents how to perform CPR, use a defibrillator and recognise the signs of cardiac arrest.

John said: “I wouldn’t be here without my family’s crucial actions of getting me to the hospital and the ambulance team.

‘I wouldn’t be here without my family’s crucial actions of getting me to the hospital and the ambulance team...’

“I know I am very lucky, one in 10 in fact, to survive an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest, and so if more people know CPR and how to use a defib then more people could survive.”

Lucy said John is “incredibly lucky” to have survived, adding: “I’m privileged to have had the opportunity to reunite with him and his family, who ultimately made the decisions needed to ensure he got help as soon as possible.”

Domantas added: “Seeing John walk into the station well and smiling is special, but knowing he’s now been a part of arranging helping others to learn lifesaving skills makes it even more meaningful.”