Northampton mum reunited with hero lifesavers

A Northampton mum who collaspsed and nearly died has been reunited with the team that saved her life and has thanked them in person.
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Michelle Wetherall met up with her life savers from St John Ambulance and Nottingham City Hospital following her collapse after a cardiac arrest at last year’s Robin Hood Marathon.

On September 24 last year, 57-year-old Michelle was at the Marathon to watch one of her sons, Josh, compete.

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At around 9am on the day she collapsed after suffering a completely unexpected cardiac arrest.

Luckily, there were several first aid trained people on hand including three St John Ambulance volunteers – Sammie Griffiths, Abigail Akehurst and Samuel Jones, an off-duty paramedic and an off-duty anaesthetist.

Between them, using their training, they successfully resuscitated her using Cardio-Pulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) and a defibrillator.

She was transferred to the Queen’s Medical Centre in Nottingham and then on to the Acute Cardiac Unit at Nottingham City Hospital, where she spent four days in an induced coma.

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Michelle is now fully recovered from her incident and was very keen to locate the people who had helped her in order to thank them personally.

Staff, Sammie, Abigail and Samuel, were delighted to meet her at Nottingham City Hospital and, thanks to a video that she recorded, Michelle has also managed to locate the anaesthetist who assisted her.

In addition to the reunion, Michelle was so keen to repay the first aid charity and hospital that she arranged a coffee morning for friends and relatives and raised £500 which has been divided equally between St John Ambulance and Nottingham Hospitals Charity.

Michelle said: “I was so keen to thank St John Ambulance and Nottingham City Hospital for everything they have done for me.

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“Without their intervention I would not be here today, fully recovered - both organisations do amazing work and deserve a great deal of recognition and credit.”

St John Ambulance will use the £250 donation for further training and equipment for first aiders.

To join St John Ambulance go to www.sja.org.uk