Jogger who collapsed after cardiac arrest in Southsea seeks nurse who helped save his life - as family give defibrillator to hotel

Alan Hardwick was out for a run in April when he fell ill. The fit and healthy 67-year-old was saved by an incredible – and lucky – chain of events. And it inspired his daughter Lara to raise money for a defibrillator to help people in the future, which has now been installed at the Queens Hotel in Southsea.

Describing the drama, Lara said: ‘A friend happened to pass my dad a few seconds before the incident, who then called the ambulance, and an off-duty nurse who happened to be driving by, parked up and started good

strong CPR.

‘We’ve never found out who this nurse was – we’d love to find her and we’d dearly like to thank her in person! If anyone knows who this was, we’d love to hear from you.

‘The builders from the site opposite also performed CPR - our hero Josh, trained from his time in the army. Paramedics arrived and put Dad into an induced coma to protect his brain, and took him straight into resus and then onto intensive care. He was in hospital for three weeks in which time he slowly but defiantly came back to us.

‘We count our lucky stars every day to still have him with us,’ said Lara.

Lara and her partner Tom ran the Hackney Half-Marathon in May and decided to take the opportunity with friends and family to raise money for the defibrillator.

Lara added: “Just 10.8 per cent of people who experience a cardiac arrest outside of hospital survive. Taking five minutes out of your day to learn CPR from this easy link could help increase that number.

‘Figures published by London Ambulance Service also show that when a public access defibrillator (PAD) was used by a bystander and at least one shock was delivered to a patients, the survival rate was more than five times higher (57 per cent).

‘Please familiarise yourself with the map below of your local defibrillators, you never know when you might need it!’

Anne Jolly MBE, Founder of SADS UK, the charity who arranged for the defibrillator to be sited at the hotel, said: ‘We are pleased that thanks to Lara, her family and supporters, the Queens Hotel will now have a defibrillator on site.

‘SADS UK is passionate about saving lives and promotes the importance of individuals learning CPR and how to use a defibrillator to help save lives. Since 1998 SADS UK has assisted thousands of schools and many communities to put defibrillators on their premises and delivered training on CPR and how to use a defibrillator.’

Queens Hotel general manager at The Queens Hotel, Portsmouth, Paul Playford, said: ‘We are really pleased to be able to accommodate the defibrillator at The Queens Hotel. We are known as the hotel at the heart of Southsea and we take our commitment to our local community very seriously.

‘Having the defibrillator based at the hotel means we can play an important role in the health and safety of our community.’