Every year in the UK thousands of people have a cardiac arrest, where the heart stops beating properly, so blood is no longer circulating around their body.
For every minute that passes during a cardiac arrest, if nothing is done, the chances of that person surviving reduce by 10 per cent. That’s 10 per cent every minute.
Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) alone won’t restart a heart, but it’s vital to keep blood moving around the body and brain until the patient’s heart can be ‘shocked’ back into action using a defibrillator. Yet figures show that only 50 per cent of bystanders will try CPR.
It’s not just CPR — alarmingly, surveys also show that only a small percentage of the population knows what to do — and has the confidence to act — if faced with any serious health emergency.
Heroes: Garry Kerr and son Ellis (9) with Mick Carter at Haverhill Golf Club, Haverhill, Suffolk
That’s why the Mail has teamed up with experts at St John Ambulance to produce a series of guides on first aid, launching this Saturday with a handy 24-page booklet, and continuing next week with advice for babies and children, older people, holiday emergencies and when playing sport.
Just what a difference that kind of knowledge can make is illustrated here, in the story of how a father and his young son saved the life of a stranger who’d collapsed on a golf course.
Garry Kerr, 47, a manufacturing supervisor, lives in Haverhill, Suffolk, with his wife Hayley, 36, a former HR manager, and their children Ellis, nine, and Lexi, three.
He says: 'Ellis and I have played golf together since he was tiny — the family used to regularly go to our local golf club, where I’m a member, for Sunday lunch and he wanted to have a go on the putting green when he was three.
'He hasn’t looked back — and he is the current British junior golf tour champion for his age group.
'We were at the club one hot Saturday afternoon in August 2017 when a wayward ball bounced into our path from two golfers playing on another hole.
'I threw it back then I heard someone call out ‘Somebody help me please!’ I turned around to see one of them lying on his side making rasping noises from his nose and mouth. I told Ellis — then seven — to stay put and I ran over.
'I asked the man if he could hear me but at that point the rasping noises stopped and I could see he was going blue. I put my ear down by his nose but I couldn’t hear anything or feel any breath at all.
Did you know? For every minute that passes during a cardiac arrest, if nothing is done, the chances of that person surviving reduce by 10 per cent. That’s 10 per cent every minute
'I’d done a first aid course at work about ten years before — although never dreamed I’d have to use it — so I knew that he’d had a cardiac arrest.
'I didn’t stop to think, I immediately pushed him on to his back and started CPR.
'I’m not normally one to wade in and take the lead but this time I didn’t hesitate: we were about a mile from the club house and there was no one else around. I just knew I had to do it. The man’s companion (who turned out to be his son-in-law, Stuart) had frozen — he was so shocked he couldn’t even talk.
'I told him to dial 999 and continued to do CPR. My mind was a bit of a blank at the time — I was just concentrating on what I was doing.
'I didn’t know if I was doing it right or if it was going to work. I remember looking down at him and thinking ‘this is probably not going to end how I want it to’.
'Every time I stopped to check how he was doing he’d stop breathing. By the end his lips and face were blue, but I kept going. It was exhausting and I was pouring with sweat, but I somehow kept the CPR going for 20 minutes until an ambulance arrived.
'Meanwhile, Ellis ignored my instructions to stay put. He spotted some other golfers on the horizon and sprinted off to raise the alarm. Before they could reach us however, the paramedics arrived. They shocked the man a couple of times with a defibrillator to restart his heart, then the Air Ambulance took him to hospital.
'When I turned around I realised that a crowd had gathered to watch — there must have been around 20 people there, as well as ambulances, police and the fire brigade. I am glad I didn’t know they were there at the time as it would have made me even more nervous about what I was doing.
'As I watched the helicopter take off, I did wonder if I had done the right thing and whether it was enough to save him.
'I wasn’t sure exactly what Ellis had seen and didn’t want to traumatise him so I didn’t talk about it on the way home. But I was so proud of how calmly he had reacted.
'What had happened didn’t hit me until later that evening. I felt shaky and surprised at my response, but was really worried about the man. I couldn’t stop thinking about it.
'The next morning I got a lovely text from his wife. She got my number from the golf club to thank me for saving her husband Mick’s life and to tell us he’d survived and was waiting for an operation in hospital. It felt as if a weight had lifted from my shoulders.
Incredible story: Mr Kerr (L) performed CPR for 20 mins while his son, Ellis - then only 7 - ran for help, which certainly saved
