Posted by By Shania Obrien September 29, 2022 on Dec 30th 2022
Mum is reunited with the supermarket employee who saved her life after she went into cardiac arrest in the lolly aisle: 'He is my angel'
Mum is reunited with the supermarket employee who saved her life after she went into cardiac arrest in the lolly aisle: 'He is my angel'
A mum-of-three was recently reunited with members of the Coles team who saved her life after she went into cardiac arrest in the middle of her shopping trip.
Mary Brockhoff, from Melbourne, collapsed in the lolly aisle at Coles Burwood East and immediately went purple in the face.
Connor Ferris, the manager on duty at the time, speedily rushed to her aid and called Triple Zero.
'Mary was hanging off her trolley and purple in the face so I immediately called for help and moved her onto the ground in a safe position,' Connor said.
He added" 'I don't know how to describe it. Hearing the news that Mary had woken up from the coma was truly amazing.'
The manager also revealed that he commenced CPR after advice from paramedics and then grabbed the defibrillator.
Automated External Defibrillators (AED) are in all Coles supermarkets across Australia and a team member claimed that they have saved 'one life a week' this year in stores.
Mr Ferris also worked with Roy Zeng, the Dairy Manager, and service team member Emilia Cox to give Mary two shocks from the AED, with firefighters arriving and applying a further two shocks before being joined by paramedic crews.
Paramedic Chris Hastings responded to Mary's case and said her story was a 'perfect example of the chain of survival'.
'Mary is incredibly lucky. If she had a cardiac arrest while at home alone, there would have been no one available to call 000 or commence CPR and use a defib,' he said.
The life-threatening event came as a shock to Mary and her family, none of whom have a history of heart disease.