Cambridgeshire farmer backs campaign to teach skill that saved his life
John Martin suffered a cardiac arrest in May 2022
A Cambridgeshire man is telling us it's vital to learn CPR, the skill that helped save his life.
John Martin returned to Luton Airport from a golfing holiday with friends when he collapsed at passport control in May 2022.
John, a farmer from Haddon near Peterborough, suffered a cardiac arrest which raised the attention of Emma Darker and her friend Carl, who also landed at the same airport.
"When I got to the man on the floor, he had been put in the recovery position," Emma said.
"I checked for signs of life and realised he was in cardiac arrest; I asked a few border control officers to help me get him onto his back to begin CPR."
"I was so lucky"
A defibrillator was then sourced as Emma delivered a shock to John's chest, before she heard choking from John's throat due to his airway being blocked from his nose due to his fall.
Emma relieved this by tilting John's head to the side, as basic life support was delivered by paramedics.
"All I know is when I collapsed, I was like a tree going down; I went straight down on my head," John said.
"One of my friends pointed out that I was so lucky I fell within about 10 yards of a defibrillator.
John was moved Luton and Dunstable Hospital before being transferred to Harefield Hospital, and has since made a full recovery.
Campaign to make the UK 'resus ready'
The 65-year-old is backing a campaign led by Resuscitation Council UK (RCUK) to increase CPR awareness and reduce the number of out-of-hospital cardiac arrests.
According to RCUK, there are more than 100,000 cardiac arrests every year in the UK that take place outside of a hospital setting.
It said CPR delivered by somebody nearby, which is performed less often in deprived communities, can double the chance of survival from an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest.
RCUK wants businesses to support its 'ResusReady' initiative, which will give them and individuals the chance to appear on an interactive heat map, allowing RCUK to identify where gaps in CPR training and defibrillator awareness exist in the UK.
By using an interactive map, RCUK hopes it can target its efforts to making sure everyone has an equal chance of survival from a cardiac arrest.
"Thankfully where I collapsed, they (the airport) had someone who knew what to do to save my life," John added.
"This can happen at any workplace, shop, school, anywhere; it's so important people have the training.
"Just one person that trains to do it or gets a defibrillator, it will help somebody."