Great Western Ambulance Service saved my life

A man who suffered a heart attack while at the gym has met the air ambulance crew who helped save his life.

Terence Ayres had just stepped off the treadmill at Keynsham Leisure Centre when he collapsed with a cardiac arrest.

Staff carried out basic first-aid on Mr Ayres while they waited for a paramedic from Great Western Ambulance Service to re-start his heart.

The Great Western Air Ambulance (GWAA) crew then carried out hospital-level intensive care before flying the 66-year-old into Frenchay Hospital.

Mr Ayres has now recovered from his heart attack and yon Friday paid a visit to the air ambulance's Filton base to thank the crew who helped him.

He cannot remember anything from when he collapsed on October 29 last year. The first he knew about his trip in the helicopter was a couple of weeks later, when he spoke to one of the doctors who had helped him at the scene.

GWAA does not receive statutory funding, and apart from the paramedics and drugs, everything needs to be paid for through donations.

The Post has been supporting the charity's bid to raise £1.3 million a year through the Sky's the Limit Appeal.

Mr Ayres had suffered a cardiac arrest about 20 years previously, but had not noticed any signs of being unwell and had been going to the gym most days for about three months.

"I had been taking it pretty steady, and my GP had said exercise was good for my sciatica," he said.

"I had been feeling better and better and was getting better at it every day and there was no reason for me to think anything was wrong.

"I can't remember what happened, but I've been told that I came off one of the exercise machines and was talking to one of the lads and I just went down, and banged my head on another machine."

Medical adviser for GWAA Jonathan Benger was one of the doctors who helped Mr Ayres and has written to the leisure centre to congratulate staff for their efforts.

He said: "It is not just us, we would not have been able to do it without the basic first-aid and the work of the ambulance. It's team work."

Another air ambulance doctor, Kate Sharpe, was also at the scene after Mr Ayres' heart attack, and also paid him a visit at Frenchay Hospital, where she works.

She said: "It is just brilliant to see him looking so well. Working as an anaesthetist at Frenchay Hospital, I see a lot of patients being brought through the intensive care, so having that continuity from pre-hospital all the way through is most rewarding."

During his spell in hospital Mr Ayres was fitted with a miniature defibrillator that will monitor his heart rate and shock him if it stops again.

Mr Ayres said: "It's great to meet everyone and have the chance to say thank you. I was surprised to find out they are run as a charity. I knew the air ambulance existed but thought it was part of the health service and was there to get to inaccessible places. I didn't think they were there for people like myself."