Aberdeen family's fundraising mission for ARI after mum-of-two suffers cardiac arrest

An Aberdeen family have set out a fundraising mission after mum-of-two, Donna Liddle, suffered a cardiac arrest three months ago.

It was just a "normal day" according to Arianna, 9, as the family were getting ready to head off to school.

Mum, Donna, was brushing her teeth when Arianna heard a loud thud in the bathroom and when she went to investigate, she found her mum unconscious on the floor.

Donna Liddle had suffered a cardiac arrest and it was because of her children's quick thinking that she is still here today.

Without delay, Arianna quickly shouted for her 11-year-old brother, Oliver, who ran upstairs and put his mum into the recovery position.

Oliver explained it was just that month he had received first aid training at Scouts and knew exactly what to do.

After dialling 999, Arianna realised her mum was turning blue so ran across the road to her neighbours, who then began to perform CPR on Donna until the emergency services arrived.

The 39-year-old received three defibrillation shocks which successfully restarted her heart.

She was transported to Aberdeen Royal Infirmary where she spent two days in a coma.

Donna then spent 15 nights recovering in hospital, but doesn't remember much of the incident at all.

She said: "My first memory is looking to my dad. I remember my dad being in the room and asking him 'why am I here, what's happened?'

"He explained it to me and that's kind of when it sunk in."

Donna has now been fitted with an ICD (implantable cardioverter-defibrillator) which works to the pace of her heart.

If a cardiac arrest occurs again, the technology will send a shock similar to a defibrillator.

Children awarded for saving their mum's life

Arianna and Oliver were awarded certificates of commendation from the Scottish Ambulance for their bravery and quick thinking.

The family recently visited Aberdeen Ambulance Station and met with some of the team who responded to the incident.

Newly qualified paramedic, Monica Hurley said: “We’re so pleased to see Donna has made such a good recovery. The brave actions of her children saved her life that day – early intervention is critical in Out of Hospital Cardiac Arrests.

"It was wonderful to see Donna and her children again. I felt emotional myself when they were getting their certificates.

"The children really did remain so calm throughout the whole incident. I’ll never forget the hug I got from the children after we got her heart beating back to a sustainable rhythm and we could tell them their mum is in a stable condition thanks to the help of the trauma team. We wish her all the best in her recovery and fundraising.”

Fundraising mission

Donna is now aiming to raise £10,000 for the NHS Grampian Charity’s Cardiology Fund, with support from her children’s school friends.

"We're hoping to give back, I feel like the care that I had was amazing and there was a huge amount of resources involved.

"The compassion that both the emergency services and teams within the hospital, has been excellent, they've been really, really good to us as a family as well."

Donna has a whole year of fundraising planned including quiz nights, raffles and piggy banks in Arianna and Oliver's school.

She is also hosting a ticketed dinner and ceilidh on the 7th March in Aberdeen.

Donna continued: "The ambulance team are actually coming to join us on that night as well which will be lovely, it will be great to have them there."

Oliver explained if they can raise enough money, they hope to purchase defibrillators for the community and emergency services: "If it goes over the 10-thousand budget, mum's thinking to put it into defibrillators because that's what saved her life."

Paramedics Monica and John have also volunteered to go to the kids’ school to teach CPR.

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