"I'm forever grateful" - grandmother meets emergency crews who saved her life after cardiac arrest

Nina Wallace, 63, collapsed on the floor of her downstairs toilet in February 2023 with her husband, who had never done CPR before, working for 12 minutes to keep her alive before help arrived. She was subsequently taken to hospital, suffering two further cardiac arrests on the way, and then underwent multiple procedures to save her life.

Over two years on, Nina and her husband Jon, 67, from Warsash, got the chance to reunite with the South Central Ambulance Service and the Hampshire and Isle of Wight Air Ambulance (HIOWAA) crews who attended her on that day.

The moment provided a sense of closure for Nina, who thanked them for all they have done. She said: “I didn't know what to expect or how I was going to react, but it felt like putting the last piece of the jigsaw puzzle in.

“Being able to say, ‘thank you – because of what you’ve all done for me, I've been able to meet my youngest grandson, spend time with my beautiful granddaughters, witness my youngest son get married and celebrate our Ruby Wedding Anniversary’. Thank you just doesn't seem enough but there are no other words.”

Nina has had two stents and an implantable cardioverter defibrillator fitted and is continuing her recovery at home. She has daily battles with fatigue and brain fog but it could all have ended much worse.

Jon recalled the harrowing experience of seeing his wife collapse. He said: “She turned a horrible colour. I'd never seen a colour like it. It was ghastly — a blue-grey kind of colour. Then she suddenly fell backwards onto the toilet floor.

“They told us they couldn't guarantee what the outcome would be. It’s so scary; you try to prepare yourself for the worst. We were allowed to go in and see her at around 3 o’clock the following morning. She was in an ICU bay with tubes everywhere and had a big hole in her neck. It didn’t look good at all.”

The actions of the HIOWAA doctor and specialist paramedic at the scene helped give Nina the best chance of survival, providing her with pre-hospital emergency anaesthetic, an intervention that can only be delivered by the air ambulance team.

Nina and Jon have continued to receive support from HIOWAA with aftercare lead Tom Nickisson-Richards arranging the patient and crew reunion.

Nina is thankful for everything that the emergency crews did in helping her to still be here today. She said: “I'm the 1 in 10 that survived (an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest). I never thought it would happen to me. But if it hadn't been for the amazing crews that night, I know I wouldn't be here now. I'm forever grateful.

“Now I've survived I want to share my story and help those going through similar feelings of, ‘why did they bother keeping me alive? Why did I survive?’ Because there will be people out there thinking that. But you’ve got to keep going. Life is for living.”

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