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I thought I was a pretty healthy bloke. Just before last Christmas, I had finished work for the year and was looking forward to an overseas skiing adventure with my family.

But with little warning, I had a cardiac arrest.

I had taken the dog for a walk to get an early morning coffee for me and my wife Emma, when I felt chest pains. I thought it was nothing more than referred pain from an old back injury, but it persisted.

I told Emma about the chest pain and said I’d make an appointment to see my GP. Emma pointed out that even if I could get in to see my GP quickly, given I was complaining of chest pains, he would either send me to Royal North Shore Hospital (RNSH) or call an ambulance.

In unexpected moments like this, we turn to our healthcare staff – but they need your help. Please support our health professionals by making a donation to the NORTH Foundation today.

Emma suggested that if I was in that much pain, she would drive me to RNSH – and what a great decision that turned out to be.

We had just turned onto the main road, when I remember saying to Emma that I could see black spots.

Then I lost my vision, like someone had turned an old television off and with it, my heart and breathing stopped. There was nothing I could do to stay conscious.

Emma said she saw my body jolt and I became unconscious. She gave me a shove to try and wake me and yelled, “You’re not doing this to me!”

She had the presence of mind to call 000 as she negotiated three lanes of traffic to turn into the nearest side street. Emma was struggling to get me out of the car when she saw two people and shouted, “I need help getting my husband out of the car!”

Two wonderful strangers, Carlos and his partner Valeria raced over. Carlos saw I was unresponsive and couldn’t feel my pulse. He helped Emma move me to the ground and he started CPR immediately. Valeria jumped into the passenger’s seat and was relaying information from the ambulance call centre to Carlos.

I later learned that Carlos had been a lifeguard for 10 years in Chile, often volunteering at surf competitions. Every second counted and with each compression, he was pumping blood to my vital organs, ensuring they weren’t starved of oxygen.

I will be forever thankful to the people who came forward to offer help and comfort to Emma. I can’t imagine what it would have been like for her to watch her husband of nearly 30 years lying on the pavement.

Within minutes, ambulances had arrived, including a specialised vehicle with critical care paramedics and doctors onboard. Ambulance officers used a defibrillator to restart my heart. I was placed in an induced coma before I was intubated and stabilised. My life was in their hands as they rushed me to RNSH.

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Before that fateful day, I didn’t know I had coronary heart disease or blocked arteries. I’m in my mid-50s, a non-smoker and I’m fit and healthy – the results from my annual blood tests said so! We have a busy life with two teenage sons and while I do have a reasonably stressful job, it never seemed to be a problem.

When I was at RNSH, cardiologist Professor Gemma Figtree provided emergency treatment by rapidly inserting three stents to keep the arteries open and restore blood flow to my heart.

I am so grateful to have my life back – but our hospitals, doctors and nurses need your help. Please donate today.

At the suggestion of one of the ambulance officers, Emma had contacted her sister and asked her to go to our home to explain what had happened to our two sons and bring them to RNSH – an incredible thing to ask of your sister. A social worker spoke with them about what was happening to me and when they would be able to see me, offered them water and even asked Emma if she needed her mobile phone charged.

As Emma said, it was the kindness shown for even the smallest things, that helped ease the enormous burden.

Professor Figtree saw my family soon after. She told them that a coronary angiogram showed plaque in my heart that had blocked one of my major arteries, causing the heart attack, but “plumbing” in that artery was now restored. She also highlighted that I would now be able to access important medicine that could stop further build up of plaque and future heart attacks.

Gemma’s research program is driven by the major unmet need illustrated by what happened to me – the need to detect and treat silent plaque before a heart attack.

It was a nerve-wracking time for my family, however the nursing staff in the ICU were extraordinary. My youngest son found it confronting to see me with lots of tubes, but Emma said the nurses took the time to explain everything to try and take the fear away.

The head of ICU spoke to Emma about the possibility that my path to recovery may be very long if my brain had been starved of oxygen. Understandably, this upset her particularly when the doctors were trying to bring me out of sedation and I seemed confused.

As Emma left the hospital that night, the nurse offered her comfort and reassured her that she could call her anytime. Unable to sleep, Emma called her at 2 am, and was overjoyed to hear her say that it seemed my short-term memory was gradually returning.

I continued to improve and by lunchtime the next day, I was sitting up in bed, chatting to everyone. It was a great relief not only for my family, but the nursing staff and doctors who were also genuinely elated to see I was doing so well.

I was discharged mid-afternoon on Christmas Day and the team arranged for Hospital in the Home, where either a nurse or a physiotherapist came every day for a week to check on my well-being.

Having had a cardiac arrest, I felt vulnerable, and it took some time to regain trust in my heart. I took a great deal of comfort from the consistency in what I was being told by the Hospital in the Home staff – that I would recover.

We are incredibly fortunate to have such excellent healthcare in NSW and I will always be so very grateful for the exceptional treatment I received and the warmth and care with which my family were treated.

By donating to the NORTH Foundation today, you can help to shape the future of healthcare for all.

Our hospitals and healthcare staff are there for us throughout our whole lives, especially in unexpected moments. Please donate to the NORTH Foundation today to help provide exceptional care for patients like me.

Paul

PS. Please show your support for the healthcare and medical research teams who provide life-saving care by making a tax-deductible donation today.