Elsie Lange
When Kylie Wakelin laid eyes on the ambulance paramedics who saved her husband Danny’s life, her eyes filled with tears.
Mr Wakelin, a Sunbury police officer who suffered a cardiac arrest at his home, got the chance to meet and thank the Ambulance Victoria paramedics who responded to his triple-0 call and resuscitated him.
Walking into the Ambulance Victoria Sunshine Branch, Mr Wakelin, accompanied by his wife and his sister Melissa, came bearing gifts and gratitude for paramedics Tristan Adams, Sadie Powers, Luke Baird and Catherine Cristofaro.
Mr Wakelin described meeting the paramedics as “fantastic”, and that after seeing them in action in his capacity as a police officer, he knew they’d done an incredible job.
“I wanted to give them a bit of closure and information as well, to see how well they’ve done and how well I’m doing as a result of their effort on the night,” Mr Wakelin said.
Last month, Mr Wakelin had been feeling unwell and experiencing pain in his upper abdomen, radiating to his jaw and shoulder and when the pain continued into the morning, his wife called triple-0.
Mr Adams and Ms Powers were first on the scene and confirmed Mr Wakelin was suffering a heart attack, which occurs while the heart is still beating and the person may not lose consciousness.
“He, being a police officer, was very stubborn and didn’t really want us to do all that much for him, he wouldn’t even get into the wheelchair when we told him to,” Mr Adams said.
“We tried to get him into the ambulance as quickly and as calmly as we could, however when we loaded him into the ambulance, he went into cardiac arrest.”
Mr Wakelin’s heart had stopped beating.
Using cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and a defibrillator, the paramedics were able to resuscitate him.
Ms Wakelin said it was a relief to see the paramedics again, and that she was lost for words.
“They were just amazing, what they did, how they basically brought Danny back to life,” she said.
Mr Wakelin, a 46-year-old father of two teenage boys, said suffering a cardiac arrest as a healthy man was a reminder to everyone to get their regular check ups.
“It’s emotional, because I know how well they’ve done,” Mr Wakelin said.
