A 66-year-old man from Co Down is urging the public to keep hearts beating this Heart Month by learning CPR after he miraculously survived a cardiac arrest. Gerard Williams, a father of five and grandfather to eight, is grateful CPR was performed on him after he collapsed following a tennis match – as it ultimately saved his life.
And now the Bangor man is urging everyone in Northern Ireland to learn CPR for Heart Month throughout February. There are more than 1,400 out-of-hospital cardiac arrests in Northern Ireland each year, but less than one in ten people survive. Early CPR and defibrillation can more than double the chances of survival.
Gerard lived a very healthy and active lifestyle and never encountered any significant health issues until 2016, when aged 57, he had a cardiac arrest at his sports club in Dundonald.
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Gerard said: "One evening in January nine years ago, I was playing tennis at David Lloyd, where my wife and I were members and we both played regularly with a group of friends. My wife went home after her game and I stayed on to have a coffee with some of the friends I was playing with.
"I sat down and felt dizzy straight way and then I’m told I collapsed. My friends shouted for help and two of the guys who worked at David Lloyds, Victor and Stuart, raced over and Victor started CPR straight away and they phoned an ambulance. Luckily they had been trained in it with working in a fitness centre."
Through performing CPR and using the defibrillator located at David Lloyd’s, Victor restarted Gerard’s heart before the paramedics arrived.
Gerard continued: "I’m told I was unconscious for quite a few minutes. The ambulance came fairly swiftly and took over. I just remember waking up and I was in a state of shock of course, not realising what had happened. I felt immediate pain from the broken ribs, which had happened due to the CPR but I know that’s why I’m alive today, because Victor had performed the CPR correctly to restart my heart."
When the emergency services arrived, Gerard was taken to hospital where he would stay for a total of 10 weeks, undergoing several tests.
"I went through a series of medical tests and they discovered that my heart was in a terrible condition. I exercised regularly throughout my life, my diet was good, I ate fruit and vegetables, didn’t eat a lot of red meat or high fat food, so it was a massive shock to be told that."
Medical staff discovered several blockages in Gerard’s arteries which led to the cardiac arrest. Gerard needed a heart bypass operation with five bypasses in total.
Gerard said: "I had an ICD (implantable cardioverter defibrillator) fitted and it has been fantastic. I did cardiac rehab and it helped me to stretch myself on a daily basis and work towards getting back to normal again. I walked first and took the advice that was there. I read Heart Matters from the British Heart Foundation and the great information on the website."
Gerard is now back to cycling and mountain climbing and is so grateful that he was given a second chance at life thanks to the quick actions of Victor and Stuart, performing CPR and defibrillation and all of the emergency and hospital staff repairing his heart.
Gerard said: "Once I came around I felt lucky to be alive and thankful for so many good people at David Lloyd and in the hospitals. My family were my reason for living. I can honestly say every morning I wake up I’m thankful. In the last nine years since my life was saved, I’ve seen my children all married and doing well and now have eight grandchildren."
Gerard had learned CPR many years ago as part of a first aid course but never had to use this skill. He has lately refreshed his understanding of CPR with BHF’s online interactive tool RevivR. Gerard is recommending everyone to learn CPR with RevivR and says, “Don’t be afraid of performing CPR. You might just save a person’s life and what a gift you can give. There is no better gift than life itself.
"I would ask people to consider this easy-to-learn lifesaving tool and be ready to have the courage that Victor and Stuart had. Ultimately, they gave me the wonderful gift of life," he said.
The BHF’s free online tool RevivR teaches lifesaving CPR skills in 15 minutes, using just a mobile phone or tablet and a cushion. Since RevivR launched in 2022, over 250,000 people have learned CPR and how to use a defibrillator through the tool.
To learn CPR this Heart Month with RevivR, visit bhf.org.uk/heartmonth.
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