Steven's Story

The 62-year-old was at his home in Orcheston, near Salisbury, when he began to feel unwell. Initially feeling it could be indigestion, Steven took some antacid to help with the pain, but it soon became much more serious.

By 4.10pm he was unresponsive and had gone into cardiac arrest. His wife Geraldine alerted neighbours to assist, utilising the local defibrillator, before Wiltshire and Bath Air Ambulance Charity landed nearby to save Steven’s life.

Steven recalls: “I remember feeling unwell and just restricted myself to doing some paperwork and pinging off a few emails for work.

“After taking some indigestion medicine, I said to Geraldine I didn’t think it was getting any better and she suggested calling an ambulance, to which I replied ‘I don’t think that would be a bad idea’.”

Steven had suffered a heart attack in 2016 and added: “I had an inclination of what could be happening and had an overall feeling of worry. I really didn’t feel good at all.

“I went to sit on the sofa and just wait for the ambulance to arrive, and that’s the last I remember as I passed out, like a light switch being turned off.”

Geraldine takes up the story: “I knew he wasn’t well and when he started complaining of pains in his chest, I actually called 999 a second time as I could see what was happening.

“I’d gone into the kitchen and by the time I had returned, Steven was slumped on the sofa. I called for the ambulance again and, at the same time, ran around to my neighbour Jane for assistance.

“The call handler said we had to start CPR and between Jane and I, we managed to get Steven down off the sofa and she immediately began giving him CPR. Jane told me to run and get the defibrillator from the village, when at the time I didn’t even know there was one there.

“I ran up there, collected it and then stopped a car passing by and asked them to drive me back to the house as it was an emergency. Thankfully Jane is a carer and has had some training, albeit a long time ago, but she knew what to do with the defibrillator and just took charge.

“CPR is exhausting so Jane and I took turns. I could feel there was some resistance with him and he was making some gasps, but the call handler kept telling us ‘that’s not a real breath, you’ve got to keep going’.

“Then we heard the helicopter overhead and we rushed to the back door and saw them circling.