Newbridge man who suffered four heart attacks thanks paramedics

A factory worker has thanked the ambulance team who saved his life after he went into cardiac arrest four times.

Rhys Parker was asleep in bed at his home in Newbridge one morning when his girlfriend noticed he was making a loud snoring noise.

After discovering that he was unresponsive, Ceri-Ann Cleverly leapt into action by dialling 999 and began performing CPR after carefully moving him onto the floor.

Welsh Ambulance Service paramedic Mark Sutherland was quickly on the scene in his rapid response vehicle, shortly followed by ambulance crew Mike Cashman and Dave Evans.

They delivered shocks to the 31-year-old using a defibrillator, as well as giving adrenaline, and were able to successfully resuscitate him.

Ceri-Ann, who learnt CPR through a first aid course at work, said: “I woke and I thought Rhys was snoring at first, so I tapped him on the shoulder.

“He rolled back as a dead weight which is when I noticed he wasn’t snoring, it was him gasping for air.

“I quickly called for an ambulance and pulled him off the bed with a sheet, and started administering CPR.

“He stopped breathing at one point and they couldn’t bring him back until they gave him adrenaline.”

Rhys went into cardiac arrest twice in the back of the ambulance on route to the Royal Gwent Hospital after falling ill on Wednesday August 30, and once more after arriving.

Fortunately medical teams were able to resuscitate him on each occasion, but he had to be sedated in hospital.

He was transferred to a specialist heart centre at the Royal Brompton Hospital in London as his heart was only functioning at 10% of its capacity.

It was there it was discovered that Rhys was born with Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, a condition that causes the heart to beat abnormally fast for periods of time.

In order to counter its impact, hospital specialists performed a procedure called catheter ablation, which is used to selectively destroy areas of the heart that are causing a rhythm problem.

After 11 days in London, Rhys was taken back to the Royal Gwent Hospital by helicopter.

He returned home recently and has since met paramedic Mark to thank him in person for helping to save his life.

Rhys said: “It was a fast response and I thought they were brilliant.

“It was nice to meet Mark, he was saying how glad he was to see I was okay and I couldn’t thank him enough. He was the first on the scene and basically the person who kept me alive.

“If Ceri-Ann didn’t start CPR then things could also have been different. It’s well worth learning, and it definitely saves lives.”

While Rhys is feeling better physically, he will need to undergo neurological therapy as part of his rehabilitation, and is being supported by his girlfriend of eight years Ceri-Ann.

He added: “All I can remember is being in the Royal Gwent, I can’t remember being in London.

“I’m up and about now, and I feel like I’m back to myself but I’ve just got some neurological issues with how I process information.”

Paramedic Mark said: “It’s fantastic to know that Rhys has recovered, because he’s only a young man.”