A MAN who has smoked for more than 35 years has urged others to give up the habit after he collapsed with a cigarette-related disease and died for four minutes.
James Deans, from Goldings, Northampton, said he owed his life to East Midlands Ambulance Service paramedics and Northampton General Hospital (NGH) doctors who revived him when his lungs stopped as he was going to bed.
His partner, Mary, called 999 and paramedics arrived, immediately working on him in his bedroom. Even though he was technically dead because his lungs had stopped working, the crew kept his heart going.
Following intubation in the ambulance, they got him to NGH where a team of doctors and paramedics saved his life.
The 47-year-old said the last thing he remembered was trying to call 999 before he became conscious in hospital three days later.
Doctors found Mr Deans had had complete respiratory failure
He said: “I would say to anyone who smokes, or is thinking of smoking, just don’t do it. I’m 47 and have nine grandchildren.
“Look at the picture of me in intensive care and ask yourself whether you want your family to go through that.”
He said: “I don’t know yet if it may be too late to undo the damage to me, but if someone reads this and it makes them change their course of action, it might have all been worth it.”
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