A RESIDENT who suffered a cardiac arrest, initially mistaken for snoring, has visited the ambulance service that saved his life.

Barry Crawford visited his nearby ambulance station in Basingstoke to thank staff at the South Central Ambulance Service (SCAS) after they responded to his wife's 999 call in 2023.

Alison Crawford was awoken on November 7, 2023, to what she initially thought was her husband's 'loud snoring'.

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(L to R) Chloe Woodward, Luke Bawden, Alison and Barry Crawford, Richard Miller, Tamsin Vaughn, Molly Maguire(L to R) Chloe Woodward, Luke Bawden, Alison and Barry Crawford, Richard Miller, Tamsin Vaughn, Molly Maguire (Image: SCAS)

After trying to wake Barry, Alison described him going 'completely rigid' when she nudged him, adding: "I tried slapping his face to wake him up but that didn't work and he continued making this very strange noise."

After phoning 999, Alison spoke to emergency call taker, Molly Maguire, who talked Alison through how to administer CPR, or chest compressions, on her husband.

Paramedics were immediately dispatched to the family home in Basingstoke, where Chloe Woodward arrived with emergency care assistant, Daryl Jorsling in just over four minutes.

A second ambulance crew with paramedic Luke Bawden, emergency care assistant Kayleigh Phillips and paramedic team leader, Richard Miller, arrived at the property in a rapid response vehicle.

The team concluded that Barry was experiencing a cardiac arrest.

They explained that the sounds Alison had been woken up by were not snoring, but were instead agonal breathing, a symptom of a cardiac arrest when a lack of oxygen causes a gasping effect.

After six shocks with a defibrillator, which gives the heart an electric shock when it has stopped beating regularly, Barry's heart began to beat at a sustained rhythm. 

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However, he was still in a 'life-threatening' condition, according to paramedics, as he was suffering a heart attack.

Barry was administered to the hospital, later receiving double heart bypass surgery at the Royal Brompton Hospital in March before undergoing a cardiac rehabilitation programme at Basingstoke Hospital.

At the end of August, earlier this year, Barry visited the paramedics that were responsible for saving his life last November.

He said: “It was important for me to come and say thank you to the amazing team who saved my life and it was a very special, and emotional, meeting for Alison and I.

"To put it bluntly, I wouldn’t be here today without them and we are both so grateful for what they did for us, and what they continue to do for others. They will all be in our hearts forever.”