Gratitude is so heartfelt for Rowde man (From The Wiltshire Gazette and Herald)

Gratitude is so heartfelt for Rowde man

10:00am Friday 22nd June 2012 in Devizes By Lewis Cowen

Heart attack victim Frank Daniells visited the air support unit at police headquarters in Devizes on Thursday to thank in person the team who saved his life.

Mr Daniells, 71, from Springfield Road, Rowde, fell ill in his home on the evening of May 26 and his wife, Gillian, called the ambulance.

Mrs Daniells said: “Frank had been washing the car that afternoon and I think he overdid it.

“He began complaining of chest pain so I called 999 straight away.”

Paramedics who arrived were so concerned about Mr Daniells’ condition they whisked him in an ambulance to the air support unit at the Devizes police headquarters in London Road.

John Gray, the paramedic who attended Mr Daniells, said: “His heart stopped when we got him to the unit so we defibrillated him before we put him into the helicopter and got his heart going again.”

Because of its specialist heart facilities, the air ambulance crew decided that the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford was the best destination and, with Captain Bob Lewis at the controls, the helicopter was in Oxford within 20 minutes.

There a surgical team was standing by to rush Mr Daniells into the operating theatre and insert a stent into the coronary artery that was causing his problems.

He was kept in hospital for five days and is now fully recovered.

But Mr Daniells, a retired TV engineer, is in no doubt the outcome could have been very different.

He said: “I have no doubt these people saved my life. It all worked like clockwork.

“I had the best possible care and as a result of that I am here now, which I wouldn’t have been if they hadn’t got me to surgery as quickly as they did.

“I don’t remember too much of what happened on that night.

“I remember going in the ambulance but after that – nothing. I had had some chest pains but I just thought it was old age catching up with me. I will be more careful from now on.”

Clinical team leader Richard Miller said he was delighted to see Mr Daniells looking so well. He said: “For us this is a fantastic outcome because we don’t often see such a good recovery.

“It is great to see Mr Daniells down here today and I hope we don’t have to come to his aid again.”

While at the unit, Mr and Mrs Daniells made a donation to the Wiltshire Air Ambulance Appeal.