East of England paramedic suffers heart attack whilst treating patient in cardiac arrest
Jeremy Williams says he had an 'impending sense of doom'
Last updated 3rd Aug 2022
An emergency responder with the East of England Ambulance service has thanked his colleagues for saving his life after he suffered a heart attack, whilst treating a patient in cardiac arrest.
Jeremy Williams, who's 51, was resuscitating the woman at her home in Bedfordshire when he felt pain that he'd 'never felt before.'
His teammates quickly realised what was happening and, while some continued to shock the original patient, others carried out an ECG on Jeremy and discovered he was having a heart attack.
"I'm forever indebted to them for that day."
Jeremy, who's based in Kempston, said: "There's no real protocol for being on scene at at an incident and a member of staff go down."
“I’ve come off a motorbike at high speed so know what pain is, but have never felt anything like I did on that day. It was so excruciating that the crew couldn’t dry my chest to attach the ECG. But once they did get a reading, they knew what they had to do and transferred me straight to the specialist hospital at Lister where I had two stents fitted.
"Speaking to lots of people who have been who have long term in the service, like 20 plus years, they can't recollect anything like this ever happening before."
"They sent another ambulance to support - it was a little bit manic - then everybody got into the rhythm, the same as with the cardiac arrest and the same as treated a patient for a heart attack.
"I couldn't have had a better team of people around me and I was treated well and got to hospital quickly
"I'm forever indebted to them for that day."
EEAS staff Mark Evans, Nadine Ward, Paul Neary, Dave Jadidi and Sophie Reynolds worked together to treat both patients.
Shaun Whittington, advanced paramedic in urgent care, led the incidents and described the shift as one he will never forget.
“I’ve been in this job for 22 years and have never heard of anything like this happening before, and really hope it never happens again. The fact that Jeremy and the patient have both recovered is a testament to the skills and dedication of the team on scene on the day, who worked together brilliantly to manage two very challenging incidents.”