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It was an autumn weekend at Stuart and his wife’s bach in Waikanae. Stuart recalls he was “doing some repair work on the house. I got the dustpan and broom to clean up. I came into the kitchen and looked into the bins to find where to empty the dustpan. One of them was for paper so I knew I shouldn’t use that one!”

“That’s the last thing I remember, until I woke up in hospital on Tuesday afternoon.”

Later, he discovered from his wife and visiting friends that he suddenly collapsed on the kitchen floor and began seizing.

Stuart had experienced a tonic-clonic seizure (what used to be known as a grand mal seizure), which causes a loss of consciousness and violent muscle contractions.

Waking up in hospital

Heartbeat Manager Rachel takes up the story, explaining that her dad’s seizure ‘didn’t stop’ (known as status epilepticus) which can be incredibly dangerous. When our paramedics arrived, medications used to stop seizures didn’t work as they usually do, and Stuart continued to seize.

Rachel says, “dad was attended by five paramedics, including two Intensive Care paramedics, one being Nigel. They worked together for over an hour. In the end, they needed to put dad on life support. The rescue helicopter was dispatched to take him to Wellington Hospital where he wasn’t expected to survive”.

But incredibly, Stuart did survive.

Rachel explains that “usually when coming out of an induced coma, a patient is quite confused. But he woke up a couple of days later asking why he was in hospital and where his wife was!”

Stuart’s recollection of this moment is that it felt “just like waking up. I think the staff were quite surprised I was so lucid”.

Rachel believes “100%, dad would not be alive today unless he had the quick response and highly skilled paramedics taking care of him that day”.

Intensive Care paramedic Nigel adds: “To hear that Rachel’s dad made a miraculous recovery is incredible, considering the odds of permanent disability increase with seizure duration and age. He not only survived a serious medical event but has been granted a second chance.”

Years of care

Stuart explains that he’s used the services of Wellington Free Ambulance for “many other things”. This seizure was the third seizure he’d experienced in his life, all of which required the expert help of an emergency ambulance crew.

Additionally, “Wellington Free saved my son’s life following a windsurfing incident on Waikanae beach when a storm got the better of him”.

Stuart believes that “everybody in our area is indebted to Wellington Free. I doubt there’s a family nearby who hasn’t had to use them”.

He describes all his experiences with Wellington Free as “absolutely wonderful”. He goes onto say that he “greatly admires” healthcare professionals, including hospital staff, paramedics – and his daughter Rachel who he describes as “incredibly sympathetic”.

Rachel joined Wellington Free over 12 years ago and over that time she has worked in a variety of different roles including Patient Transfer Officer, Event Medic, and Emergency Medical Technician.

Nowadays, she’s our Heartbeat Manager, overseeing the Lloyd Morrison Foundation Heartbeat programme. This includes training schools, businesses and community groups in life-saving CPR skills and coordinating the install and maintenance of public access AEDs (automated external defibrillator – a device that analyses the heart’s rhythm and, if necessary, delivers an electric shock to help the heart get back to its natural rhythm) throughout our region.

Stuart believes that it’s “absolutely wonderful” that Rachel works for Wellington Free and is “very proud”.

“Wellington Free Ambulance is an incredible service and everybody in our region is very spoilt.”

“I’ve been a Rotarian – a member of a Rotary Club – for years. The Club I belonged to helped support Wellington Free way back in its beginning years so in a way, my association with Wellington Free goes back decades.”

“Wellington Free is the epitome of what really worthwhile charitable work is.”