The councillor who came back from the dead and those who saved him

Allan Jeffery was finishing a busy week of canvassing for the council elections in Swansea on April 29. He had a coffee with a party colleague and the pair went their separate ways to knock on doors and drum up support.

Mr Jeffery walked up Waterloo Place, Brynmill. After knocking on number 19 and talking to its owner, Elizabeth Kift, the lights went out. "I talked to at least half a dozen people on Waterloo Place, but from that point I don't remember anything," said Mr, now councillor, Jeffery.

"I can't remember knocking on number 19. The next thing I can remember was waking up in a high-intensity ward in Morriston Hospital, with so many electrodes attached to me. I had no idea what had happened."

Cllr Jeffery had suffered a cardiac arrest. Luckily for him, Mrs Kift is a former nurse. Even better, a trainee doctor who lives on the same road was at home, as was another first aider. The gods were clearly smiling on the 74-year-old that day, as when he fell backwards his backpack cushioned his fall, protecting his head. A week later, back from the dead, he was elected for the first time as an Uplands Party councillor. Mrs Kift recalled: "Allan started chatting, and the next minute he fell onto the road. I knew it was a cardiac arrest. I raced down my steps and told my husband that we needed to phone an ambulance. I started working on Allan. The ambulance call handler wanted us to go down to the Scouts hut on Bryn Road to get a defibrillator."

Mrs Kift knew there wasn't time. "I spoke to her and said it was serious," she said. "My neighbour's daughter was updating the handler on what was happening. I was doing compressions. He wasn't conscious. There was no sign of life. I did pop his ribs, at least two." Her husband, meanwhile, went to the Scouts hut but it was locked with the defibrillator inaccessible. A cardiac arrest is when the heart malfunctions and stops beating unexpectedly. A heart attack is when blood flow to the heart is blocked - this can lead to a cardiac arrest. Both are both emergency situations. Mrs Kift, 64, said it was about 20 minutes before paramedics arrived. "A first responder came first, cut off his (Cllr Jeffery's) jumper and told me to keep going," she said.

Trainee doctor Atlanta Houdmont, 24, who'd been alerted by her house-mate on Waterloo Place what was happening, took over the compressions. "You're just on autopilot," said Miss Houdmont, who completes graduate medical school shortly. "You get adrenaline, and keep going. I thought he was gone."

Mrs Kift said the paramedics who arrived had a device which automatically does compressions. Next on the scene was a doctor, in full personal protective equipment, who had been dispatched by the ambulance service. A Wales Air Ambulance helicopter, which landed in nearby Singleton Park, completed the response. "It was like a field hospital here," said Mrs Kift.

Uplands Party leader, Cllr Peter May, also arrived. "It was a shock for him," said Mrs Kift. "He was ashen. I think he could have done with a brandy." Cllr May said: "It didn't look promising at all, on arrival. You could sense the silence and concentration going on. They were working really hard on Allan."

Cllr Jeffery was taken to Morriston hospital by road. When he came to some time later in the high intensity ward, the cardiologist treating him was present. "He said I was extremely lucky to be alive," said Cllr Jeffery. "I was comfortable. Deep breathing was painful because of the damage to the ribs. A couple were broken, a couple were cracked. An extremely competent and compassionate sister explained to me what I had gone through." Cllr Jeffery spent three weeks at Morriston Hospital and had a defibrillator fitted. "It monitors the heart rhythm," he said. "It will only activate if it detects an anomaly. That might not happen again." He added: "The care I received was second to none. I couldn't fault it. The staff were absolutely amazing." He said the cardiologist and house doctor insisted he kept coughing to keep his lungs clear of fluid and lessen the risk of pneumonia. "That was painful," he said.

While in hospital he learned of his election success via WhatsApp, with the Uplands Party gaining all four Uplands seats. "Word went round the whole ward!" he said. Cllr Jeffery said it was great to get back home to St Helen's Crescent, Brynmill, where he lives with his wife Margaret - a part-time nurse. He said he hadn't had any indication that something was amiss in the run-up to the cardiac arrest, except feeling tired after all the days of door-knocking. Scans, he said, had shown no evidence of blocking or furring in the heart. Cllr Jeffery was born in Blackwood, Monmouthshire, but has spent almost all his life in the Swansea Valley and Swansea. He was an apprentice engineer then employee at what was then the British Steel Corporation, Port Talbot. He later trained as a teacher at a technical college and spent most of his working life at schools in Swansea and Carmarthenshire after an initial stint in Bristol. He played football as a younger man and was a sub-aqua diver and instructor who kept in good shape. He and his wife have two sons and a daughter, and four grandchildren.

Cllr Jeffery said his wife and daughter took Mrs Kift a bouquet of flowers and box of chocolates the day after the cardiac arrest to thank her. "The family was emotional," said Mrs Kift. "I have done resuscitation before. Sometimes it's not a good outcome - the chances (of survival) outside of hospital are minimal." Miss Houdmont, who also met Mrs Jeffery and her daughter, said she was proud to have played a part in their loved one's survival. "I had a little cry - it was when she said, 'You saved my husband's life'," she said. Cllr Jeffery said he will contact Mrs Kift to thank her personally. "I owe her my life," he said. "If it wasn't for her, I would not be here today." Since leaving the hospital he has been learning the ropes as a councillor, spoke at a planning committee meeting this week, and is keen to implement the Uplands Party's various pledges for the ward.

He is also arranging public first aid sessions in September at Brynmill Community Centre, and potentially another venue. They'll be run by the Waterloo Place first aider, who works for St John Ambulance and who was at the scene that day. Cllr Jeffery, Mrs Kift and Miss Houdmont all stressed the value of learning first aid and CPR. The experience has given Cllr Jeffery a new perspective. "It has made me appreciate living daily," he said. "There are times when I think I am lucky to be here." He has been told by Uplands Party colleague, Cllr Stuart Rice, that he did utter a few words after being admitted to accident and emergency. "Stuart told me that I said, 'We have to do Richmond Terrace'," he said. Clearly, somewhere in his brain, he needed to be out canvassing.