The 8% Club

It’s the club that nobody wants to join, but everyone is dying to get in. As a survivor of an out-of-hospital Sudden Cardiac Arrest (OOHSCA), I am acutely aware of just how lucky I am. While around 70% of heart attack sufferers walk out of hospital, that survival rate is closer to 8% of cardiac arrest patients. Welcome to the 8% club.

The stars really do have to align for an SCA patient, with rapid CPR and defibrillator use essential steps in the chain of survival. At 3 o’clock in the morning I was incredibly lucky that my wife woke up and rang 999. I was lucky that the call handler recognised agonal breathing and told her how to carry out CPR. I was lucky that there was an ambulance just four minutes away at a petrol station and I was extremely lucky that Critical Care Paramedic Joe was just a few minutes behind in one of EAAA’s rapid response vehicles. Oh, and our house was less than a mile from the hospital, that was lucky too!

Being ‘lucky’ doesn’t necessarily make you appreciate everything though, at least not immediately. Our lives were understandably turned upside down. As an automotive journalist, losing my driving licence for six months meant that I was unable to work properly. I had been training for my seventh charity marathon the day before my SCA, now I was suddenly unable to run. With cognitive and emotional changes to deal with, I was literally unable to be me.

Friends asked: “What will you do with this amazing second chance?” “What changes will you make?” “What will you become?” But I didn’t want to ‘become’ anyone new, I just wanted to go back to being me. Was I so terrible before?

Of course, gradually you find the new you. I can drive again and do most of my job. I can run again, just not so far. I can still be me, though a slightly different version of me. Finally, I can also fully appreciate just how lucky I am.

Having visited EAAA at Cambridge Airport and met Joe and ‘my’ ambulance team, my mind almost inevitably turned to “what can I do to help”. I looked to what I know and raised some money, by running 50 miles in a month for EAAA’s 'Together We Run'. I then raised some more, running from John O’Groats to Lands End virtually throughout 2023. I covered the 874 miles in 6-7 mile runs over 12 months and actually finished at Britain’s most southerly point.

But there was a need to do something else. With a bit of research, I discovered that I could volunteer for EAAA, not only by running and collecting money. I could be a CPR trainer, spreading the word among the community. In Norway and Holland, where CPR is taught in schools, the survival rate for an SCA is a healthier 25%. If we can teach everyone, young or old, to at least try CPR and to use an AED defibrillator, hopefully we can increase the chance of survival here for future generations.

So here I am, the new me. As a volunteer CPR trainer I have joined another club at EAAA and we are working together to reach as many people as possible with one simple message. Dive in, try CPR, find a local AED and, perhaps, save someone’s life. The worst has already happened and their lives are literally in your hands. You might just make someone else the luckiest person alive.