Cyclist Mark hails CPR heroes as bike ride cardiac arrest nearly kills him

Cyclist Mark hails CPR heroes as bike ride cardiac arrest nearly kills him
A group of strangers helped keep Mark Watson alive after he suddenly collapsed on his mid-week ride

Keen cyclist Mark Watson says he is lucky to be alive – after he suffered a sudden cardiac arrest while out on a bike ride. The auto electrician, who regularly goes for 40-mile rides in his spare time, collapsed while cycling up Barlaston Old Road with some friends on September 8.

Fortunately for the 60-year-old, three people in the area were able to carry out CPR on him while they waited for an ambulance to arrive, giving him a much better chance of survival. His saviours included another cyclist who also happened to be cycling along Barlaston Old Road when the incident occurred, and GP Dr Chandra Kanneganti, whose house Mark had just cycled past.

Paramedics used a defibrillator to get Mark's heart beating again and he was taken to the Royal Stoke, where he later received a stent for a blocked artery. Mark, from Bucknall, is now urging people to learn how to provide CPR, saying it could help save someone else's life.

He said: "It was just a normal mid-week ride, nothing particularly strenuous at all. But as we were coming up Barlaston Old Road, I just completely blacked out. I didn't have any pain or dizziness before it happened, it just came out of nowhere.

"Later on I was told that I'd been slowing down on my bike before stopping and falling down. I had no pulse and I'd stopped breathing.

"But fortunately there were these three other cyclists who were just behind us, who knew how to do CPR, as well as a care assistant and the doctor, whose house we'd just ridden past. It was just so lucky that it happened there, it's almost as if everything was arranged to give me the best chance of surviving. The paramedics were fantastic as well."

Cyclist Matt Dyke, who was out for a ride with his friends Chris Polwart and Neil Oliver, was the first person to provide assistance. The 32-year-old, from Chesterton, immediately realised the seriousness of the situation and sprang into action.

Despite not having any formal training in CPR, Matt knew it was important to maintain continuous chest compressions until the paramedics arrived.

Matt said: "Mark and his friends were about 500 metres ahead of us on Barlaston Old Road when he just seemed to stop and fall off his bike for no reason. When we caught up with them we saw that Mark wasn't breathing, and I just acted instantaneously, putting him onto his back and starting CPR.

"I've never been told how to do CPR, but I just recently listened to a podcast where they talked about how the important thing is to do firm chest compressions, and maintain it for as long as needed. One of my friends suggested we do mouth-to-mouth but you shouldn't really do that unless you know what you're doing.

"I was doing that for about 10 minutes until someone else took over. We were checking Mark's pulse and it stopped several times.

"After the paramedics arrived we hung around for a bit, and we left when we saw there was nothing more we could do. Afterwards we spoke to each other about how we had helped save a life.

"I think the important thing when something like this happens is take control of the situation and not to panic."

Mark was also helped by a care assistant who was working in the area, before the arrival of Dr Kanneganti. The GP, who is also a city councillor for Goldenhill and Sandyford, believes the case could have had a much worse outcome had there not been people around to provide CPR within minutes of Mark's collapse.

Dr Kanneganti said: "I was at work at the time and I got a phone call from my wife saying a man had had a cardiac arrest on the road. So I drove home, and because the road was blocked I had to get out and run the rest of the way. When I got there I saw them doing CPR, and took over for about six minutes. I think by the time the paramedics arrived we'd been doing CPR for about nine minutes between the three of us. Mark didn't have a pulse and everyone was really scared.

"I think this story just shows how important it is for everyone to learn how to do CPR. There are lots of places where you can get the training for free, and it only takes an hour.

"Even if it only works one in a 100 times, that's still one life that is saved. If there hadn't been three of us there who knew CPR, then it could have had a very different ending.

"I think it's especially important for people who take part in intense sport to learn CPR, as putting the heart under pressure during exercise can cause something like this to happen, even if people are fit and healthy."

The paramedics had to use a defibrillator on Mark three times before his heart started beating again. And he was not out of the woods yet, as medics had to place him into an induced coma after he arrived in hospital.

But following the stent procedure, Mark has made a remarkable recovery, with Dr Kanneganti being surprised at how fit he looked when he came to thank him earlier this week.

Mark believes he is lucky to be alive, and is now urging people to learn CPR. He said: "I think it is so important that people know CPR, it's just that you never think something like this will ever happen to you. If it had been the other way round, I wouldn't have known what to do."