'I had a cardiac arrest in the middle of breakfast. Here’s how my kids and a total stranger saved my life.'
One minute Chana Hughes was enjoying breakfast with her family.
The next minute she collapsed, setting off a chain of events where the oldest of her five children played a crucial role in keeping their mother alive before a heroic stranger raced to the rescue.
The family therapist doesn’t remember anything of the incident or the previous few days, but has pieced together parts of the day based on what her family has told her.
And her experience proves the vital role that CPR training can play in saving lives.
“Everything was as normal, I was a very active person,” Chana, from Edgware, London, remembers.
“It was a Jewish festival and we were celebrating Shavuot together with friends and family.
“Then I had a sudden cardiac arrest on the Thursday morning. My husband had just left for synagogue, and my five kids were at home.”
The shocked children called for their teenage siblings, who rushed downstairs and called 999.
By a miracle, Chana, who works for the NHS, had just that week done CPR training and had spoken to her children about it, so that they would be aware of how to give chest compressions.
Chana’s son Betzelal, 18 and his sister Yael, 16, took it in turns to give chest compressions, while 11-year-old Basya ran outside for help.
The children caught the attention of Rikesh Shah, the owner of a construction company, who rushed in and took over the CPR until paramedics arrived with a defibrillator.
“Rikesh was up to date with his CPR training because of his job,” Chana explains.
“He came and continued CPR, and told my son to run and get my husband.
“The ambulance arrived, and they gave me five shocks with the defibrillator.
“It took them a while before they stabilised my pulse and my breathing, and I was put into an induced coma and sent to Barnet General Hospital.”
Chana was in a coma for two days, and her family were told to expect the worst.
Chana was in hospital for 11 days and was given open heart surgery six months later to correct her valve which had deteriorated.
Thankfully, the surgery went well and Chana is slowly and steadily recovering.
She had to learn to walk again, but is making a steady recovery and thanks her children and Rikesh for saving her life.
Chana has been given an internal defibrillator that will administer a shock if her heart stopped again.
She keeps in touch with Rikesh, and speaks about her story within her community to raise awareness of the importance of learning vital life-saving skills.
Health charity St John Ambulance is running Save a Life September, a nationwide campaign aiming to teach 300,000 people the essential first aid skills to help someone experiencing cardiac arrest, severe bleeding or choking.
New research by the charity shows that 84 per cent say they’d do anything for their loved ones yet 42 per cent of people have never taken a first aid course.
The charity runs free demonstrations up and down the country and also offers free online guidance.
“The whole story feels like serendipitous and miraculous, thinking about Rikesh working over the road just at that time, and him knowing CPR and the whole shift,” Chana adds.
“Cardiac arrest can happen to anyone any time, and it’s so important to learn those lifesaving skills. You could save someone’s life.”
Rikesh says that he was in fight or flight mode when it came to saving Chana’s life.
“Chana's husband Jonny wrote a lovely letter which explained that, after Chana was taken to hospital, the doctor told him that if I hadn't have helped, Chana would likely have died,” he adds.
“At the time of the incident it was like I was in fight or flight mode. I just got on with it as I knew she needed help.
“I went home that evening and I still couldn't really believe what had happened. It wasn't until I received Jonny's thank you letter did it really sink in that I had saved a life.
“It's really great knowing that, because of something you did, five children still have their mother.”