A man from Knaresborough whose collapse, midway through a training run, revealed a rare heart condition is set to appear on Helicopter ER next week.
Stephen Reynolds was midway through a training run when he suffered a cardiac arrest at the roadside in Knaresborough. A passer-by, who recently had a refresher in CPR, started chest compressions until a paramedic arrived with a defibrillator. It took several shocks to get his heart beating again.
The Yorkshire Air Ambulance were dispatched and Stephen was flown to Leeds General infirmary, where subsequent scans revealed that Stephen had been born with a rare heart condition.
Stephen said:
Scans showed that I had been born with a rare congenital heart condition where my right coronary artery was positioned in the wrong place and it triggered my cardiac arrest when it became constricted during exercise. I was told it could have happened at any point in my life. I underwent open heart surgery to reposition the artery and spent a total of 3 weeks in hospital.
Stephen continued:
The air ambulance crew were quick onto the scene and instrumental in my treatment at the roadside as well as ensuring a quick journey to the specialist cardiology unit at Leeds General Infirmary.
Stephen is now on the road to making a full recovery and has been able to start running again. At the beginning of July, Stephen completed the Yorkshire Three Peaks to mark one year since the incident and earlier this year, Stephen held a fundraiser to celebrate his 38th birthday and raised £1,500 for the rapid response charity.
Speaking of the Yorkshire Air Ambulance, Stephen said:
It was great to get the chance to meet Rachel, one of the Paramedics, last year at the Nostell air base to say thank you for the part she played in saving my life that day. I will always be grateful to her and the whole team at the YAA for the amazing work they did in helping me.
The episode, which airs at 10pm on Channel Really on 27th July 2020 also features a car fire on the North Yorkshire moors and a mountain bike incident in Swaledale.
Helicopter ER is made by York-based Air TV who have won five Royal Television Society awards for their work on the compelling series. You can catch up on any missed episodes for free on D Play: https://www.dplay.co.uk/show/helicopter-er
Good news this young man has recovered well…I passed the incident while out running myself! well done to all those concerned in that recovery!
Thank goodness for the passer by that gave chest compressions,without that he wouldn’t be here now ,didn’t seem to get thanked in the following comments ?