Children save dad’s life with CPR after cardiac arrest

By Elizabeth Hunter via SWNS

A father who suffered a cardiac arrest in his sleep was saved by his children performing CPR - even after he made a "death rattle."

Fit and healthy Michael Welsh, 55, began experiencing what felt like flutters in his chest.

After seeking medical advice he was prescribed a series of beta blockers but his heart flutter worsened.

He suspected he had just fallen ill, as daughter Rachel, 23, had thrown a Hogmanay party just days before.

At around 7am, wife Alison awoke to Michael making a bizarre noise – which he now believes was a "death rattle" – and turned to find him blue in the face and with open eyes.

She screamed, and the couple’s adult children, Rachel and Christopher, then 27, raced through to help.

Rachel and Christopher, who had both undergone CPR training through their jobs, began performing CPR on Michael immediately, while wife Alison phoned 999.

The family worked on Michael for several minutes, with Christopher becoming exhausted from the compressions – but his girlfriend Chloe, who was staying with the family, was luckily able to take over.

Now, a year on from the incident, Michael has a clean bill of health – and has been left with an overwhelming sense of pride at his family’s heroic actions that night.

Michael, of Dundee, said: “I’ve been fit and healthy all my life, but I started feeling a bit strange – what I now know was this ventricular fibrillation.

“It was kind of like a flutter in my chest, which was very weird, because I’d never had any problems with my heart.

“I eventually got some beta blockers from the hospital. I didn’t feel well at Christmas – the flutters in my heart had started again, even though the beta blockers had helped marginally.

“Over a period of about a week, I got worse and worse, but I thought it was just a virus.

“On the 2nd January, I woke up early in the morning and thought it was happening quite a lot.

“But my daughter had had a party on Hogmanay, and folk had left really late, so I thought I was just tired.

“I took another tablet and went back to sleep – which is probably the worst thing I could have done in retrospect.

“My body was obviously telling me something – it was every five minutes that these flutters were happening.

“It was around seven in the morning and my wife woke up because she heard me making noises – she thought I was snoring and gave me a nudge.

“I kept making the noise, so she turned around – and I was staring at her with lifeless eyes, and I was blue in the face.

“All my bodily functions had released – it was basically the last hurrah before death, I think.

“She screamed for help from my son and daughter, and luckily, they knew what to do.”

Paramedics arrived, and used a defibrillator on Michael three times, before restarting his heart and whisking him to Ninewells Hospital, where he was fitted with an implanted defibrillator device.

Doctors were mystified at what could have caused the cardiac arrest – but after just six weeks, Michael was cleared to return to regular exercise.

“My son thought they’d better start CPR, so my daughter gave me the kiss of life because I was very blue,” said Michael.

“They had had training, my son through his work, and my daughter through her volunteering and her work. They both knew what to do.

“My wife phoned the ambulance while they were working on me, and I was completely away with it.

“I have a vague recollection of something going on in the background, and someone shouting at me, but no recollection of anything.

“I believe my daughter slapped me in the face and told me not to die – which was probably very helpful in her mind!

“Both of them worked away – and luckily his girlfriend was staying with us, so she took over.

“Although he’s a very fit young man, he had just run out of energy after a few minutes, and Chloe had to take over.”

Michael’s family were able to save his life through their CPR knowledge, and he hopes that his story will encourage more people to seek training.

“I’m overwhelmingly proud - I’m overwhelmed by the way they were able to think about it,” said Michael.

“I’ve spoken to people before who didn’t know what to do when family members were having a cardiac arrest – and here was me with four people being able to help me.

“It’s an overwhelming relief that they have the ability to save a life.

“They were also able to avoid the trauma of losing a loved one – because they do like me a bit, I think!

“It’s indescribable – they’re great people and I really love them, and that gift was amazing.

“It’s so important for lots of people to know what they’re doing and how to help each other out.

“CPR can be the difference between life and death.”