For the past 10 years,Guy Leech has been known as Australia’s “#1 Fitness Guy”, having been involved in setting group fitness world records, creating a raft of fitness related products and programs and working with some the country’s leading health organisations like Diabetes Australia and The Heart Research Institute of Australia.
In Feb, 2016 that all changed for him when one of hist best mates “Chucky” collapsed after one of their paddling sessions. The ambulance arrived around 10 minutes after the phone call, and they quickly set up the defibrillator as Guy continued CPR on Chucky. Once they had him in the ambulance they took him directly to the Royal North Shore Hospital. He was in the best possible care. Chucky was fit, he was healthy. Unfortunately, Chucky never recovered and passed away after a week in hospital.
He suffered a Sudden Cardiac Arrest (SCA). He was not alone. In Australia, around 30,000 people suffer a Sudden Cardiac Arrest (SCA) each year. Only around 6% of these people survive, because there wasn’t a defib close by – if you can get a defib on the patient in the first three minutes you increase the chance of survival to over 70%!
One of life’s most haunting questions I ask myself is “What if?” What if I had a defib in the car, What if I the cafe nearby had a defib? What if I could have put Chucky on a defib in that first 180 seconds? If any of my other fit and healthy friends, my kids, my wife were to suffer from a Sudden Cardiac Arrest? Where is the nearest defib right now? Does anyone know how to use it?
Everyday, fit and healthy people suffer from Sudden Cardiac Arrest. Whilst good diet, exercise and managing stress can reduce the incidence of heart disease, Sudden Cardiac Arrest can strike anyone, any time. When it does, over 90% of these people will die. Chance are the ambulance won’t get there in that first three minutes. If a defib is put on the victim in that time we increase to the chance of survival to over 70%!
Guy’s mission now is to help people become Heart Smart by making sure that we have defibs available, and people are trained in how to use them confidently in the case of Sudden Cardiac Arrest. The reality is we can get the defib on the patient in the first 180 Seconds, to give them their best chance of living.
Come along to not only hear about Guy’s experiences but also see a demo on how to use a defibrillator.
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