Remember that story on The Project about how the Heart Saver AED that Paul Ego donated to his tennis club was used on a groom-to-be on his stag do? That groom was fit policeman Adam Booker and in support of Sudden Cardiac Arrest Awareness Month he shared his story for the first time in Woman’s Day, in an attempt to spread the word about sudden cardiac arrest and AEDs.
He was playing Zorb soccer with his mates in Devonport on his stag do when he suddenly collapsed in cardiac arrest. His groomsman was a trained first aider from the navy – recognising what he was dealing with, he sent a passerby in search of an AED. Thank goodness one had been installed at the neighbouring tennis club just four days previously. CPR was started immediately and the AED was used ASAP.
When his fiancee Rachael Montagu arrived at hospital, Adam was barely clinging to life. Doctors had put him in an induced coma and intensive care and told Rachael it was touch and go…
Thankfully he regained consciousness after several days, breathing on his own at which point Rachael let out her own breath of relief. “I couldn’t even imagine what my life would look like without Adam in it,” she told the magazine.
Now Adam is back on the beat, working in the central Auckland police force, and the couple are again planning their wedding, for March next year. A wedding that is possible because last March there was an AED nearby when it was needed…
