As Matthew O’Toole sat sweating and nauseous on a bench, many passers-by simply walked straight past him.
But one woman felt she had to stop to help — and swiftly realised that Matthew was having a stroke. She called 999.
Now, Matthew, a 47-year-old father of two, from Farnham, Surrey, is making a good recovery.
As has been widely reported, his wife Georgina, 44, set about tracking down the Good Samaritan online, to thank her personally for what she did for Matthew that day last month — and the two are now in touch.
Such a scenario is not as uncommon as it may sound. We spoke to three people who nearly died — and the strangers who saved them — about their dramatic rescues and the bonds that have since formed between them.
Passing motorists restarted my heartLynda Donaldson, 61, suffered a cardiac arrest outside the fish and chip shop she owned with her husband Graham, 54, in Saintfield, Co Down, Northern Ireland.
Michelle McAvoy, 50, a school nurse from Bangor, came to the rescue, performing cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR). Michelle lives with her husband, Michael, 52, a civil servant.
Lynda says: I remember suddenly feeling dizzy and seeing black, then I was out cold on the floor. I’d had a cardiac arrest. Graham shouted for a passer-by to call 999.
I awoke looking up into the face of a stranger who I now know was Michelle. I wasn’t sure what had happened but heard people discussing CPR and ambulances, and remember thinking: ‘That doesn’t sound good.’
Apparently, Michelle was driving past, saw what happened, jumped out of her car and began performing CPR. It took the ambulance 12 minutes to arrive and Michelle did CPR for more than five minutes to keep the blood pumping around my body. Without that, I might not have survived.
Lynda Donaldson, 61, suffered a cardiac arrest outside the fish and chip shop she owned with her husband Graham, 54, in Saintfield, Co Down, Northern Ireland. Michelle McAvoy, 50, a school nurse from Bangor, came to the rescue, performing cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR)
A first-aid instructor, Phil Batt, also happened to be passing in his car with a defibrillator, which he used to shock my heart into starting working again. Later, in hospital, the consultant kept saying: ‘You don’t know how lucky you are.’
Tests showed that the most likely reason for my cardiac arrest was an irregular heart rhythm with no obvious cause. I had an operation to place a defibrillating device in my chest, to start my heart should it stop again.
Fortunately, Graham had taken Michelle’s number, so a few weeks after this all happened — in January 2011 — I met up with her for a coffee. We both cried and seemed to bond instantly.
The experience changed my life. Graham and I trained as CPR instructors and set up a commercial first-aid training company.
Michelle and I meet several times a year. If it hadn’t been for her, I wouldn’t be here. She’s my guardian angel and a wonderful friend.
Michelle says: Lynda’s skin was purple and her mouth was open like a stranded goldfish gasping when I saw her lying on the pavement with a very distressed man beside her. I hadn’t performed CPR on someone in cardiac arrest since I was a student nurse 20 years earlier — but instinct kicked in.
By a stroke of luck, another passing motorist happened to have a defibrillator with him. He set up the machine, which delivers an electric charge to the heart to shock it and start a normal rhythm, while I continued CPR.
By the time the ambulance arrived, Lynda was breathing again.
I was so relieved when Graham phoned to say she was going to be all right. I still well up when I see Lynda looking so well and getting so much out of life; and I think what might have been . . .
He grabbed my coat to stop me jumpingReya Pettitt, 25, a former market researcher, lives in Woodingdean, East Sussex. She was talked out of jumping from a bridge in January 2020 by Ken Mitchell, a management consultant who is in his 50s, from Lewes.
Reya says: Teetering backwards on the parapet of a bridge over a busy road, I felt my heels hanging over the edge. I didn’t look down. I wanted to get it over with quickly.
I’d been planning my death for a week. I spent that day walking around Brighton, where I had lived for my entire life, and got the bus to the place where I planned to end it.
It was getting dark and I climbed out over a safety barrier and edged towards the middle.
After a few minutes, people in cars started to notice me and began shouting. I froze.
Suddenly, this man appeared beside me on the road side of the barrier — he had run across the road from his girlfriend’s car.
Reya Pettitt, 25, a former market researcher, lives in Woodingdean, East Sussex. She was talked out of jumping from a bridge in January 2020 by Ken Mitchell, a management consultant who is in his 50s, from Lewes
He was calm and softly spoken, said his name was Ken and asked me mine.
I said
