When Derek Bolger went to bed one night in July 2017, he had no warning signs that he was about to suffer a major heart attack.
Just after midnight, Derek was sleeping next to his wife, Geraldine O’Reilly Bolger, who happens to be a nurse at St. Vincent’s Hospital in Dublin, Ireland. Suddenly, Geraldine noticed that Derek was having trouble breathing. After prodding her husband several times, and having no response, Geraldine knew something was very wrong.
Independent
“I gave Derek a dig in the ribs and asked ‘Derek are you OK?’ I got no response, so I gave him a bigger dig and shouted ‘Derek are you OK?’ Still no response, so I sat up and turned on my bedside lamp, glanced at Derek, lifted my mobile and dialed 999. I said I need a cardiac ambulance please, my husband is having a cardiac arrest and gave them our address.”
Geraldine followed the emergency operator’s instructions and pulled Derek off the bed, onto the hard surface of the floor. Derek had begun foaming at the mouth, and he was still unconscious. Geraldine’s nursing training kicked in immediately, and she began doing chest compression.
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“On my first thrust of compression I heard a crunch,” Geraldine said. “I knew I’d broken cartilage, but I thought that’s good I’m in the right place and doing it hard enough.”
Geraldine was sweating profusely with the exertion of keeping her husband’s heart beating for him. Although she was exhausted, she refused to give up. She now knows that her vigorous chest compression, which she kept up by herself for thirty full minutes, saved Derek’s life.
“It made sure that oxygen still made it to the brain,” Geraldine explained. “He was not dying and that was that.”
Vandenberg
Independent
Independent
“I said: ‘Derek you look fantastic.’ He smiled at me and asked ‘am I dead?’ I said ‘no you are not.'”
Derek went on to make a complete recovery, and now Geraldine has made it her life’s mission to encourage everyone to learn how to perform life-saving CPR and first aid. “It isn’t like you see in the movies on TV,” Geraldine said. “It is hard and it won’t bring them back in 30 seconds but it works and everyone should be given the chance to learn how to do it, starting in schools.”
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