Woman recalls terror as partner suffered multiple cardiac arrests

Jane Staufenbiel said her partner Adrian O'Donnell was very lucky to be alive

A woman has spoken of her horror at witnessing her partner needing repeated resuscitation when he suffered multiple cardiac arrests.

Jane Staufenbiel, from Leicestershire, watched as paramedics battled for an hour to keep Adrian O'Donnell alive before an air ambulance crew arrived.

The crew used a procedure normally only carried out in hospital to stabilise him.

The 56-year-old was subsequently found to have a blocked artery.

An ambulance was first called to the couple's Hinckley home in July 2020 when Mr O'Donnell complained of "feeling unwell" and turned grey.

He gave his partner a kiss and said he would see her later before paramedics wheeled him out of the house to be taken to hospital for checks on his racing heart.

Ms Staufenbiel said: "The ambulance didn't move for a while and then suddenly it started bouncing up and down, which I now know is because Adrian had gone into cardiac arrest, and they were working on him. Eventually, he was brought out of the ambulance on a trolley.

"It was very traumatic to watch what was happening to Adrian. The crews were so busy treating him they didn't have time to talk to me, so I didn't really know what was going on."

The air ambulance service deployed its fast response car

Because Mr O'Donnell kept suffering cardiac arrests and paramedics needed to repeatedly use a defibrillator, it was unsafe to transfer him to hospital.

After an hour of working on him, the air ambulance was called and it dispatched a fast response car staffed by a doctor.

They were able to apply an anaesthetic and intubate Mr O'Donnell - a method usually only carried out in hospital - meaning he could be transferred to University Hospital Coventry by land ambulance.

He suffered three more cardiac arrests on the journey. Because of Covid restrictions at the time, Ms Staufenbiel had to wait in the car park with her daughter.

"Eventually I was told he might not come off the ventilator and if he did, he could be brain dead, so I was allowed in with the family to see him because they didn't think he was going to make it," she said.

"He is very very lucky to be alive."

Passionate supporter

Doctors discovered a blocked artery and inserted a stent, and after just four days Mr O'Donnell was well enough to be discharged.

He has since undergone a heart by-pass operation and almost two years later is back working as a self-employed electrician.

He said: "I don't think I would be alive today if Jane had not called 999 and started the process that resulted in the air ambulance coming to me.

"I am therefore very passionate about raising funds for the charity."