‘A defibrillator can save your life’ says Cork man who suffered multiple cardiac arrests
A Cork man whose life was saved by the prompt use of a defibrillator is urging members of the public to make themselves aware of the location of devices in their local area.
“I owe my life to one, big time,” said Tomás Healy, who suffered multiple cardiac arrests, due to a viral infection in the wall of his heart, last October.
What he initially brushed aside as ‘flu-like symptoms’ led to his collapse on a street in Macroom, where he was tended to by medical personnel with a defibrillator. Tomás said he had been “feeling rotten, but, assuming it was just a normal cold, I didn’t do anything about it, only chicken soup and a day on the couch.
“The following day, I didn’t feel any better, but despite my wife trying to get me to go to the doctor that morning, I said, ‘no, there’s no point. It’s a viral infection; it’ll need to run its course.’” As his condition deteriorated, Tomás agreed to being taken to the doctor’s surgery, where his sister is a nurse, but he collapsed outside.
“I have man-flu,” he remembered telling his sister, Ann. “I said ‘I’ve an awful headache’. And, at that, by all accounts, I collapsed.” His sister began CPR and while an ambulance was on its way, two local doctors utilised a defibrillator.
“I got 15 wallops of the defibrillator to keep me going until they got me to the hospital,” said Tomás. “Every time they would shock me, I’d wake up and talk to them. And then I would ‘die’ again.”
As secretary of Naomh Abán handball and racquetball club in Baile Mhúirne, Tomás recently secured funding from Airtricity and Cork County Council to improve the club’s facilities and install a defibrillator and provide training courses.
“I wouldn’t be here only for a defibrillator,” he said, urging people to “be aware of where they are and have respect for them”.
His sentiments were echoed by Cork County councillor Gobnait Moynihan, who is raising awareness of the need to know the location of devices.
“Be aware of where they are,” she said. “It’s important to know it for your own family and friends, but also for people who are passing through your area, who wouldn’t have a clue where the local one is.” She urged people to attend defibrillator training courses, but, in a life-or-death situation, she said no-one should be afraid to use one of the simple-to-operate devices.
“If somebody drops in front of you, you have two choices: Do something, or do nothing and they’re gone.
“I would be encouraging anyone and everyone to do the CPR and the [defibrillator training] course, but if you’re stuck in a situation and you haven’t done the course, still go and get the box. You open the box and press the power button and the box starts talking to you immediately. It tells you what to do.
“You have very little time and you don’t want to waste it trying to think where the damn thing is,” she said, highlighting the location of 24/7 public-access defibrillators in her local Múscraí area.
Baile Mhúirne: Racquetball club/ Ionad Cultúrtha; Údarás na Gaeltachta industrial estate; opposite Abbey Hotel; Tigh Tórraimh Ghobnatan funeral home. Cúil Aodha: Swimming pool; Mark Éire. Béal Átha ’n Ghaorthaidh: Ard na Laoi; GAA club. Réidh na nDoirí: Post office. Cill na Martra: Cois Cille day centre.
