Worcestershire man 'lucky to be alive' after suffering two cardiac arrests in a week
Over half of people who live with their partner say the fear of causing harm would make them reluctant to give CPR
Last updated 11th Feb 2025
A man from Worcestershire who suffered two cardiac arrests in the space of a week says he's 'lucky to be alive'.
Neil Hoy was 59-year-old when he had a heart attack leading to a cardiac arrest in July 2022.
Now 61, he received CPR from his wife Joanne before being taken to hospital where he had a stent fitted and was eventually discharged.
After being sent home to recover, Neil then had another cardiac arrest on the Sunday morning where he once again was given CPR by his partner.
This time when he was back in hospital, he was fitted with an implantable defibrillator in his chest to help support his heart.
He says he's grateful Joanne was there to help him on both days, but remembers 'barely anything' from the day when the first one happened.
"The statistics of me having a second cardiac arrest so soon after the last one, my consultant at the time said it just doesn't happen," he said.
"I can remember vaguely in the morning doing some jobs, then I went off to play badminton for a few hours, but I have no memory of playing it or driving there and back.
"I'm back playing badminton now, I'm walking our dog four miles a day, all these years that she (Joanne) has given me are bonus years."
Around half of people (51%) who live with their partner say the fear of causing harm would make them reluctant to give CPR if someone had a cardiac arrest in front of them, according to data from the British Heart Foundation (BHF).
Other figures from the charity suggest eight out of 10 cardiac arrests happen in the home, with more than 30,000 out-of-hospital cardiac arrests taking place in the UK each year.
4,100 of those occur in the West Midlands, with 56-year-old Joanne saying she naturally started doing anything she could to help her husband.
"People shouldn't worry about being strong enough or hurting them because anything you can do to help works as you are doing what the heart can't," she said.
"Without it, without doubt unfortunately we wouldn't have had the outcome we were lucky enough to get.
"I was in shock, I didn't realise at first it was his heart, but I got the sense straight away what was happening was life-threatening, so thank goodness I didn't panic."
It's estimated by the BHF heart and circulatory diseases cause 1,300 deaths each month in the West Midlands, with there being around 125,000 stroke survivors in the region.