"I tried quite hard to die a couple of times that day. It was certainly a great benefit and saved precious time to have a hospital helipad that close to the emergency department."
It was just going to be a normal day like any other; I never thought it would end up so differently. I’d started the day’s work in my shop at the golf club and the last thing I remember is my colleague leaving to teach a lesson. I was told later that he had returned and found me on the floor, after suffering a heart attack.
Some golf club staff members gave me CPR and used the club’s defibrillator. They got my heart beating but I was still unconscious. The land ambulance crew arrived and my heart stopped again when they moved me. They sorted that out and made the decision to call the Great Western Air Ambulance. After 15 minutes, they arrived and I was flown to the Bristol Royal Infirmary where the Heart Institute is based. As there is a helipad on the roof of the institute, the hospital staff were able to start treating me almost immediately upon landing. My consultant said this speed was absolutely vital in my survival and recovery.
I remained in an induced coma and in intensive care for four days. When they finally brought me round, I didn’t know where I was or what had happened to me. I was still very sedated and spent a further few days on the high dependency ward.
I am sure that the outcome would have been very different had I not got the care I needed, as fast as I did. It was the skills of the staff and the helipad being so close to the Heart Institute that kept me alive. My stars were definitely aligned that day!
I’ve now fully recovered and life is great. It’s a bit of a bonus really as I certainly view life from a different angle now and it would be fair to say that my priorities have changed significantly. The golf club staff, the land paramedics, the air ambulance crew and the HELP Appeal gave me another chance at life.
Every 7 minutes someone will have a heart attack in the UK.
Bill Creamer did and after being picked up by an air ambulance, he landed on Bristol Royal Infirmary’s helipad, which was funded by the HELP Appeal and is right beside the Bristol Heart Institute.
Thousands of people have landed on HELP Appeal funded helipads since 2009 but many more hospitals are still in need of our help.
