Crawley cardiac arrest survivor reunites with ambulance crew who saved his life
Jeffrey Fox's heart stopped beating in the back of an ambulance in September 2020
A Crawley man has been reunited with emergency crews who saved his life, five years on from a cardiac arrest.
65-year-old Jeffrey Fox's heart stopped beating in the back of an ambulance in September 2020.
He'd been suffering severe shoulder pain in the week leading up to the attack, which led his wife to dial 999.
An ambulance was deployed in 10 minutes - with paramedic Cheryl on scene:
Cheryl said: “Jeff was clearly very unwell when we arrived and so we began to treat him immediately suspecting a heart attack.
"On the way to Royal Sussex County Hospital, Jeff went into cardiac arrest, so we called for back-up urgently and thankfully, alongside the critical care paramedics that came out to us, managed to revive him and get him to the hospital."
Every moment a "gift", survivor says
Jeff then suffered a second cardiac arrest in emergency theatre as a stent was fitted to unblock his artery.
Despite that - he was discharged from hospital two days later - and said he "wouldn't be here" without the quick response from ambulance crews: "In the five years since, I’ve seen four more grandchildren born, shared many happy times with friends and family, and supported them through some sad times too.
"Recently I retired and Loraine and I celebrated 42 years of marriage with a dream Hawaiian cruise.
"All of those moments, past, present and future are gifts from the special team who saved me and I’ll be eternally grateful.”