A mother-of-two was left technically dead after suffering a cardiac arrest on a footpath in Melbourne, but was brought back to life by the tremendous efforts of bystanders.
About six months ago, 46-year-old Kellie Delaney collapsed in a gutter at Footscray.
The childcare student had suffered a cardiac arrest while packing up from an outdoor placement.
“She had no pulse so she was dead,” paramedic Mark Lunn said.
Her educator, Justen, immediately started CPR.
“She looked pretty bad, had a gigantic swollen forehead, lots of blood coming from her nose,” he said.
A bystander who witnessed the incident raced into a nearby cafe for a defibrillator.
The owner, Stacey Earsman, didn’t have one but her two decades of experience as a flight attendant meant she was experienced in first aid.
She dropped the bagels and rushed to Delaney, where she took over CPR. She kept going even after the paramedics arrived.
“The oxygen that’s left in her body while she’s not breathing keeps her brain alive, keeps her heart muscle alive,” Lunn said.
Paramedics said the first aid efforts had brought Delaney back.
Delaney spent five days in a coma and two weeks in hospital but has since made an almost full recovery.
“I can’t even put it into words,” she said.
Each day, 21 Victorians suffer a cardiac arrest and only one in 10 survive.
For every minute that help is delayed, the chance of survival decreases by 10 per cent.
“I keep telling everyone you need to learn CPR, family members have bought defibrillators and things like that as well,” Delaney said.
“Any basic first aid for anyone is just the most crucial and most helpful thing somebody could have,” Earsman said.
