- 2 days ago
Close Calls On Camera S10E07 (19th April 2022)
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CreativityTranscript
00:00A close call, a moment of danger when life can hang in the balance.
00:05It was absolute panic and fear.
00:08A split second where the outcome could go either way.
00:11They'd have been lucky if they'd have stayed conscious.
00:13The difference between disaster and survival.
00:16Actually, that's all it takes.
00:20These are the people that have been there and lived to tell the tale.
00:24I was terrified. I thought I was going to die.
00:27It's a day they'll never forget.
00:30The day they had a close call.
00:46Today on Close Calls.
00:49Paramedics arrive at the home of a 31-year-old man who's in cardiac arrest.
00:54His fiancée has called 999 and is battling to save him.
00:59Please, please.
01:01He's done sick, yeah.
01:02We are going to go inside.
01:04She's done her job well.
01:06He's beginning to show signs of consciousness, but...
01:09He was actually making some moaning noises.
01:11He was moving.
01:12But we were able to see on the defibrillator monitor,
01:16his heart wasn't beating.
01:17Also today, smoke and flames shoot from a family car on a village road.
01:25The stunned driver has escaped following a warning from another motorist.
01:30To watch something that you was just driving just totally destroy itself in front of you.
01:36I was shocked.
01:38A fire crew arrives at the scene.
01:40You can feel the heat.
01:41It started to spread to the surrounding bushes.
01:53Newcastle, Tynum-Weir.
01:55A frantic young woman calls 999.
01:59Her 31-year-old fiancée is unconscious.
02:02He's in cardiac arrest.
02:15The call operator instructs the man's distraught fiancée to start CPR.
02:20You need to push about two times a second and say push out loud with every push
02:24so I know how fast you're going.
02:26Push!
02:27Push!
02:28Push!
02:29Please, come on, darling.
02:30Come on, please.
02:43Liaison advisor Lee lives in Newcastle with his wife Amy, a business executive.
02:49The couple first met seven years ago.
02:51We'd both been on separate nights out with our groups of friends and we were on our way
02:55to get some food and they asked us if we could point them in the right direction.
02:58I remember her just being sort of really friendly and bubbly.
03:02And then, for some reason, we exchanged Twitter details, Twitter handles and followed each other.
03:08They then kept in touch over social media, bonding through a shared passion for football
03:12and revelling in the bitter rivalry between their two teams.
03:16Amy's a Newcastle supporter and Lee, a Sunderland fan.
03:21You're very much two tribes.
03:23There's no neutral fans and there's nobody who supports both teams or anything like that.
03:28I'd rather concentrate on supporting someone rather than a hatred for Newcastle.
03:34But a lot of my friends are not like that and they wouldn't be seen with someone from Newcastle.
03:41And I think it's vice versa as well.
03:44You get the usual response from everybody as soon as you say, oh, he's from Sunderland
03:48and he probably gets the same response as well.
03:50You get the whole, oh, God.
03:52It's quite a big rivalry.
03:55But when they finally got together a few years later, family and friends,
03:58realising they were a great match, put their affiliations to one side.
04:04Amy, she's very caring, loving.
04:08She's, I would say she's stubborn.
04:10She'll always get what she wants, essentially.
04:13Lee means pretty much everything to me.
04:16Lee, I'm very loud and Lee is very quiet and kind of a bit of a calming influence on me.
04:23He would do anything for you.
04:24He's just the best.
04:26After five happy years together on a planned summer holiday in Greece,
04:30Lee decided to pop the question.
04:33I'm sure Amy will tell you that she actually booked the restaurant.
04:37I actually booked a really nice winery to go and visit.
04:40And I think he obviously had the ring and was kind of waiting for the right moment.
04:46There was around about 200 people there,
04:48which I didn't realise there was going to be that many people.
04:52And just as the sun was setting, he got down on one knee.
04:56She said yes and everyone got on their feet and started cheering and applauding.
05:02The whole restaurant just stood up and clapped.
05:05And, yeah, it was lovely, but at the time it was a bit like,
05:09what's going on sort of thing.
05:11Once home, they start planning.
05:13But in spring, with the big day just six months away,
05:17Lee suffers a health emergency threatening not just the wedding, but his life.
05:27It's a Friday evening in March.
05:30Lee has just arrived home from work as a nationwide lockdown is announced
05:34due to the global pandemic.
05:36Lee was a little bit anxious about it
05:38because he has to travel through to Sunderland for his work.
05:41There was a lot of uncertainty about whether you should be using public transport and things.
05:45And normally we go to the pub on a Friday night.
05:48So we just decided to stay at home and get a takeaway instead.
05:51As they wait for the food to arrive,
05:53Lee begins to experience pains in his chest.
05:57Originally, he said that he'd had it felt it a couple of days before as well.
06:00I just started lifting a few weights at the gym
06:03and I thought my muscles and things were a little bit sore.
06:07The meal arrives, but Lee struggles to eat it.
06:10The pain is making him increasingly uncomfortable.
06:14I was having a little bit of difficulty breathing.
06:17The pain in the left side of my chest and down my left arm was really intense as well.
06:25He just then kind of started to get quite irritated.
06:30I thought that I was having some sort of anxiety or panic attack.
06:34The couple decide to seek advice.
06:38Amy calls NHS 111, but the service is being overwhelmed by calls connected to the pandemic
06:44and she's held in a queue.
06:47Lee just ended up kind of just saying, just forget about it.
06:50I told Amy that I'll feel much better in the morning once I have plenty of sleep.
06:54So I took myself off to bed about 10 o'clock.
06:58Amy follows him up soon after and finds Lee struggling to settle.
07:03The pain was probably getting worse.
07:06He said, I can't get to sleep.
07:09Increasingly worried, Amy starts to research his symptoms online.
07:13There was a lot of signs that were pointing that it was a heart attack.
07:18The pain in his left arm, the tight chest.
07:20She did want to call 999, but I told her not to.
07:25I just thought I was too young to have a heart attack.
07:28But he's wrong.
07:32That's exactly what he's having.
07:35Moments later, tucked up beside him, Amy is startled when Lee begins to make an odd sound.
07:41The best way I can describe it is just an outward snore.
07:44It just sounded like somebody who was just continuously breathing out.
07:48She turns on a light.
07:49And he was just completely unconscious.
07:53I just went into panic mode, really.
07:56I just knew I had to get help.
08:00Amy calls 999.
08:02This is that call.
08:03I was just screaming the place down.
08:14I didn't know what I was doing.
08:16I was panicking.
08:17Right, listen to me.
08:19You need to calm down because I can't understand the word you're saying.
08:21Is the patient breathing?
08:23I need to stop breathing, please.
08:24He's not breathing.
08:27No!
08:27I was kind of shaking him and was kind of trying to get him round and he just wasn't coming to.
08:33Please, quick, quick.
08:35Right, okay.
08:37Darling, please.
08:38He's not conscious, not really alive.
08:40Then it was more fright and fear.
08:44I did just think, he's going to die.
08:47Call handler Bradley Sanderson dispatches ambulances and paramedics to their address.
08:52But until they get there, it's down to Amy to battle to save her fiancé.
08:58Put the phone on handspring.
08:59Yeah.
09:00Okay.
09:01Is he on the bed, did you say?
09:02Yeah.
09:03Right, drag him.
09:04Right, listen, listen.
09:05Drag him on the floor from the bed.
09:07Yeah.
09:08And lay him on his back.
09:10Amy tries but struggles to move him.
09:12He just felt like a ton of weight.
09:14I can't.
09:15Is anyone else in the house with you?
09:17No.
09:18No.
09:18Yank him off the bed?
09:20Yeah.
09:20So I then kind of started to try and roll him and his arms flopped over and touched me.
09:26And his hands were freezing cold.
09:29Is he on the floor?
09:31Yeah, he's on the floor.
09:33Bradley instructs Amy how to perform CPR.
09:36Put one hand flat in the centre of his chest and put the other hand on top.
09:40Yeah.
09:41Lock your fingers together.
09:43Yeah.
09:43Okay, keep your arms straight and push down hard and fast and don't be afraid to push too hard.
09:48You need to push about two times a second and say push out loud with every push so I know how fast you're going.
09:54Push, push, push, push.
09:58As I was doing that, he would groan.
10:01Push, please, push.
10:04Right, listen, listen.
10:05You need to calm down and continue doing what I've just said to Kate.
10:08Yeah.
10:09I think the pressure of pushing on him was making another noise come out of Lee's mouth.
10:15Amy is frantic.
10:17I think she'll die, please.
10:18Right, listen, Lee, we have got the ambulances on the way, but you need to continue doing CPR, okay?
10:23Do a minute.
10:25Keep going.
10:26Push, push, push.
10:27You're doing excellent, keep going.
10:29The call handler was just this kind of voice of reassurance.
10:33It was just like having another person there.
10:35We've got four ambulances on the way, so keep going.
10:39Amy's not giving up.
10:41She carries on with the chest compressions, keeping blood pumping to Lee's vital organs.
10:46But it's physically and emotionally draining.
10:49I was scared.
10:54It just felt like the longest time in the world.
10:57I kept saying to the call handler, like, are they close by?
11:00Are they near?
11:01We're about two minutes away.
11:02Keep going for me.
11:03I was really desperate.
11:09The longer that they're not here for, the more likely it is that he's not going to wake
11:15up.
11:15Push, push, please.
11:17Come on, darling.
11:18Come on, please.
11:21Later, emergency services arrive at the house.
11:25I'm going to see you.
11:26Please, quick.
11:28He's going to take care of me.
11:29He's going to start.
11:30But Lee's condition is critical.
11:33We were able to see on the defibrillator monitor, his heart wasn't beating.
11:38He was in cardiac arrest.
11:40Braintree, Essex.
11:51A motorist is on his way home from work where a van driver flags him down.
11:56Basically said to me, get out of your car.
12:00It's on fire.
12:01Flames are shooting out from underneath the bonnet.
12:04Within minutes, the car has become an inferno.
12:06It was properly spitting and banging.
12:10Oh, hey!
12:12One of the tires would blow out.
12:13What was that?
12:14Yeah, yeah.
12:26Essex-based musician Terry is 51 and plays at weddings and restaurants as well as performing
12:32at local gigs.
12:33I did a videography.
12:35I did a photography.
12:37Trying to juggle it all is quite difficult.
12:40But I can't sit around and do nothing.
12:44To be able to go and do something that you really, truly love and get paid for it, I don't
12:49think there's a lot of people who can actually say that they can do that.
12:53His wife, Karen, was his childhood sweetheart.
12:55He started going out when I was 13 and he was 14.
13:02When I was 17 or 18, we split up.
13:05He went off and did his thing.
13:06I went off and got married and had children.
13:09They rekindled their romance more than two decades later.
13:13We got together through a school reunion, of all things.
13:17And we just got closer and closer until I realised that she was the one for me.
13:23Five years ago, we got married.
13:26It was the best day of my life.
13:29Was it meant to be with me and Karen?
13:31Absolutely.
13:34The couple live in the bustling market town of Braintree in Essex, surrounded by countryside.
13:40We live right in the middle of town and everything's on tap for us.
13:44Most people around here are great people.
13:46If you're in trouble, you know that most people will come and help you.
13:51The busy town is set in a rural location.
13:55It's very important to actually have a car around here, especially for the kind of work that I do.
14:01Terry has to transport bulky equipment for business.
14:04So seven years ago, the couple invested in a large second-hand car.
14:08It's a big family seven-seater that we cart around all over the place.
14:13I can fit in guitars.
14:14I can fit in wedding disco.
14:17It was just the most comfortable car.
14:20It was like driving your lounge around.
14:23But one day, Terry has to escape his home-from-home vehicle after a not-so-comfortable commute.
14:29It's a Thursday in October, and Terry's finished work for the day.
14:38He texts Karen to let her know he'll be home in half an hour.
14:41Being a mum, I like to know where people are and how long they're going to be and just make sure they're OK, really.
14:46Got my tunes on, just singing away quite happily.
14:51Halfway home, I get to a set of traffic lights, of which I'm just sat there behind a large van.
14:59And I'm thinking to myself, that's a bit weird.
15:03His exhaust is really smoky.
15:06I didn't think nothing of it.
15:07But then, a lady walked past with her dog, and she's like waving around the window down.
15:14She said to me, your car's smoking, mate.
15:17I just poked me out of the window, and I could see that there's actually smoke coming from underneath my bonnet.
15:23I kind of thought, oh no, what has happened?
15:26He's queuing at a busy junction and doesn't want to hold up traffic, so decides to head to his parents' house half a mile away.
15:34And a lot of people are flashing their lights, beeping.
15:39There's a van in front of me.
15:42He literally slowed down, put his warning lights on.
15:46He's waving his arm out of the window, and I thought, OK, I'll just stop.
15:51Taking out the swear words, basically said to me, get out of your car, it's on fire.
15:59Terry reacts straight away.
16:02Grabbed my bag from the front, just got out of the car.
16:05When I turned round, I could see flames dripping out the bottom.
16:09That was the reality point, and I'm thinking, that's not good.
16:13He begins filming on his phone.
16:15The two guys had come out of the van and stood next to me.
16:18One of them has got a little fire extinguisher in his hand.
16:22He said, do you think, oh, try and put it out?
16:25I said, just leave it.
16:26I think we need to step away from this.
16:28I know there's half a tank of fuel in that.
16:31And I'm thinking, if that goes up, that's going to do a lot of damage.
16:36He dials 999.
16:38Stephen Hill is one of the on-call firefighters who responds.
16:42Come through as car fire.
16:44Any fire can spread very quickly, so it's essential that we get there as soon as we can.
16:48The matters of minutes could be the difference between saving a life,
16:51saving a property, saving a vehicle.
16:53We went on blues, the quickest route we could to the job.
16:56The front end of the vehicle is now barely visible through the flames and smoke.
17:00The faster the flames were growing, the more I got away from it.
17:05Terry and the van drivers retreat 100 yards back.
17:09It was properly spitting and banging.
17:11A real raging fire.
17:13And then now and again, there'd be a bang.
17:16It'd be one of the tyres would blow out.
17:18Whoa!
17:20Things sparked out the sides.
17:22What was that?
17:23To watch something that you was just driving just totally destroy itself in front of you.
17:30I was shocked.
17:31As the fire crew approach, the flames are beginning to threaten surrounding properties.
17:36I could see the smoke in the distance.
17:38We started to have a little chat between ourselves at the back,
17:40and we said that I was going to be on the initial, putting the fire out.
17:44With the sound of the sirens getting closer,
17:46Terry decides to video call Karen to explain why he's late.
17:51I said, have a look at that, and I kind of like turned my phone around.
17:54All I could see was his face and a car burning behind him.
17:57It's like something you see on a film.
17:59I think there was something along the lines of,
18:01Oh my God!
18:03What's going on?
18:04It was a big fire.
18:06I said, I'll come and get you.
18:07I don't know what I thought I was going to do.
18:11Then I suddenly realised Karen was never going to get here
18:13because the roads are blocked everywhere.
18:16So I phoned her up again and just said,
18:18you're better off going home.
18:20At this point, the fire engine had just turned out.
18:24Police also arrive and shut the road to traffic.
18:27Fire officer Stephen and his crewmates get straight to work.
18:31I grabbed the hose reel.
18:33As I approached the vehicle, you could feel the heat.
18:35You could smell the smells of the burning fuel, the burning rubber,
18:40everything inside the car that was on fire.
18:42While the vehicle was 100% alight,
18:44it started to spread to the surrounding bushes.
18:47Terry can only stand and watch
18:49as the crew turn powerful hoses on the vehicle.
18:52I was really sad because I loved the car.
18:56In less than 10 minutes, the fire is under control.
18:59We then continued to check the car for hot spots
19:01because it can flare up again.
19:03The car was completely destroyed.
19:05It was unmovable,
19:06so therefore we had to wait for recovery to pick it up
19:08and handed it over to the police to ensure the road was safe.
19:12Terry gives his details to the emergency services.
19:15There's nothing more he can do.
19:18His brother avoids the traffic,
19:20taking a back route to collect him.
19:22When he got back,
19:23he was just glad that he came back in one piece.
19:27And he's relieved he stopped when he did.
19:31If I'd have carried on driving,
19:33I would have parked it on my parents' forecourt.
19:35That would have taken out their two cars,
19:38possibly their house.
19:39It could have gone up a lot worse with me inside it.
19:43And who knows?
19:45The electrics might have failed.
19:47I might not have been able to get out.
19:48The day before, I'd been in it driving
19:50with dogs and children.
19:52The couple have now replaced the car
19:55with a newer version of the same model.
19:57The cause of the fire was never discovered.
20:01The car was running fine.
20:03For it to suddenly start smoking,
20:06who knows why that's done that?
20:09Terry's very grateful to the van drivers
20:10who stopped to warn him.
20:12If they're out there,
20:14if they know who they are,
20:15honestly, thanks very much.
20:22Thank goodness Terry pulled over when he did,
20:27and thanks to the guys who waved him down.
20:31Now back to the northeast of England,
20:32where time is running out for a young couple
20:34in the middle of a medical emergency.
20:36In Newcastle, 28-year-old Amy is performing CPR
20:48on her 31-year-old fiancée, Lee,
20:51after he complained of chest pains
20:52and then stopped breathing.
20:55She's called 999
20:56and is on the line with emergency call handler Bradley.
21:00Ambulances and paramedics are on their way,
21:03but it's a race against time.
21:04I think you've died. Please don't do it.
21:07Listen, Lee, we have got the ambulances on the way,
21:09but you need to continue doing CPR, OK?
21:12Push, push.
21:14I was scared.
21:16I didn't know if I was doing CPR properly.
21:19Push, push.
21:20About a minute away.
21:22Oh, Lee, I'll have a hurry up.
21:24I was really desperate.
21:26I did just think he's going to die.
21:29The paramedics are close.
21:30Call handler Bradley asks Amy
21:32to prepare for their arrival.
21:34Just quickly go and run and unlock the front door
21:37and then go back to him
21:38and continue doing what you were doing.
21:40Yes.
21:41But do that now for me.
21:42Yeah, the door's open.
21:44It's open, right.
21:44Continue, go back to him.
21:46What's he doing?
21:47He's taking deep breaths,
21:49but he's, like, sort of frothing at the mouth
21:51and his eyes rolling.
21:53Then Amy hears the ambulance arrive.
21:55And I just started screaming.
21:56Please, quick!
21:58I'm going to see you.
22:00The ambulance is there.
22:01Please, quick!
22:03Thank you so much.
22:06Paramedic Richard Ilderson is one of the crew.
22:09You can see straight away how serious somebody is,
22:12and he was seriously unwell.
22:14He was a lad who was in cardiac arrest.
22:17Richard's colleague Denise is picked up on the call
22:19encouraging Amy to continue CPR.
22:23You feel CPR?
22:24CPR, you feel fine.
22:26I just remember being really confused,
22:28thinking, well, you're here now,
22:30and surely I can stop.
22:32But she can't.
22:34Richard and his colleagues need time to check Lee's airway.
22:37If somebody's unconscious,
22:38their tongue can flip back and block the airway,
22:41and if you're not getting oxygen into your lungs,
22:43then that's going to stop going to the brain.
22:46Richard inserts a tube into Lee's throat to help him breathe
22:48and then applies the defibrillator pads.
22:51It tells him Lee's heart is in a dangerous abnormal rhythm
22:54known as ventricular fibrillation.
22:57His heart wasn't beating normally.
22:59It wasn't pumping blood around the body.
23:01To get it back into rhythm, they need to deliver a shock.
23:05But it's all too much for Amy.
23:07It kind of hit me.
23:08I can't be in the house.
23:10I can't hear this. I can't see this.
23:12She races downstairs and calls her mum.
23:15And I said, just get here.
23:16Just get here as fast as you can.
23:18Upstairs, Richard and his team deliver the shock.
23:22It has an immediate effect.
23:24His heart was starting to beat.
23:26It was beating a bit fast,
23:28but then it started to slow down again.
23:30He was starting to breathe for himself a little bit.
23:33But the improvement doesn't last.
23:36His heart stopped again,
23:37and we had to restart the process.
23:39And I could hear them saying, you know,
23:41we don't have him, we need another round.
23:44But something is happening.
23:47Lee is showing signs of consciousness.
23:49It's something that you don't expect to see in a cardiac arrest.
23:52Because the compressions had been so good,
23:55he was actually making some moaning noises.
23:57He was moving.
23:58But we were able to see on the defibrillator monitor,
24:03his heart wasn't beating.
24:04They deliver a second shock.
24:06He's crying out in pain,
24:09which was horrific to hear.
24:11But we know that we have to do it,
24:13because that's the only way we're going to save his life.
24:15Lee has felt the shock.
24:18It was very scary.
24:19It just felt like a million different tiny fireworks
24:24firing off inside your chest.
24:27Lee's heart starts to beat again,
24:29and the rhythm stabilises,
24:31but the crisis isn't over.
24:33He's in a very dangerous place.
24:35There's still the underlying reason of why is that heart stopped.
24:38He needs to be in hospital to have those investigations.
24:41Medics secure Lee onto a stretcher
24:44and carry him down to a waiting ambulance.
24:47So that's when I remember seeing Amy in the street.
24:50And he kind of looked up, and he just looked terrible.
24:53He had all the pads all connected to him in the tube and everything.
24:57He looked like he could barely open his eyes.
25:00Lee is rushed under blue lights
25:02to the nearby Royal Victoria Infirmary.
25:05Amy and her family follow close behind.
25:08Doctors discover the main artery supplying blood to Lee's heart
25:11is completely blocked.
25:13He's sedated and rushed into emergency surgery,
25:16where he's fitted with a stent,
25:18a tiny tube inserted inside the artery
25:21that alleviates the blockage.
25:24Lee's parents join Amy at the hospital
25:26as they wait for the outcome of the surgery.
25:29And I kind of thought,
25:30what is he going to be like when he comes round?
25:32I was scared that he was going to be in some way different.
25:37The surgery is a success,
25:40and when Lee comes round at 6 o'clock the following evening,
25:43he has one person on his mind.
25:46I just remember going like that,
25:49and that was basically supposed to be an A,
25:52asking for Amy.
25:54He knew who I was.
25:56I think that was probably the first time
25:59that I properly felt happy.
26:01Lee spends the next five days in hospital
26:13before being allowed home to recover.
26:15Since then, he's had two more stents fitted,
26:25and he's on his way to a full recovery.
26:27Although doctors are unsure what caused the blockages in his arteries at such a young age,
26:32he's incredibly grateful for the actions of the emergency services.
26:36And the couple managed to meet up with paramedic Richard and the rest of the team,
26:43including cool handler Bradley,
26:45to say thank you in person.
26:49I'll never be able to thank them enough.
26:51I'll always be grateful to everything that they did for me and Amy that night.
26:58To see Bradley especially was lovely,
27:01because without him being there and telling me what to do,
27:04I wouldn't have been able to do what I did.
27:06To give something back,
27:08Amy is fundraising for the North East Ambulance Service.
27:12She's already covered 1,079 kilometres
27:15to highlight the 1,079 life-saving CPR calls that were made that year.
27:21It's not just a random thing that rarely happens.
27:24It is happening quite a lot,
27:25and chest compressions can just make a massive difference.
27:28So we're just trying to raise a bit more awareness
27:31that it's a massive skill to have,
27:33and it could, and in my case, will save someone's life.
27:38A year after that fateful night,
27:40Amy and Lee did manage to finally tie the knot
27:43and are now expecting a new addition to the family.
27:46Lee knows none of it would have been possible
27:48without Amy's life-saving actions.
27:52It's just something that you're never, ever going to be able to repay,
27:55that your partner has saved your life.
27:59I don't think that I'll ever win an argument again.
28:01But, yeah, she's incredible.
28:16He's got a point, hasn't he?
28:18Well done, Amy, and great work from the medics too.
28:21See you next time for more Close Calls.
28:53Close Calls.
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