A Hastings woman has a second chance at life and an opportunity to enjoy her first grandson thanks to the life-saving efforts of SECAmb clinicians.

54-year-old Amanda Burns and her husband John, met her life-savers at an emotional reunion held at the Trust’s Hastings Make Ready Centre on Friday, 28 March.

But with just 10 per cent of people surviving out-of-hospital cardiac arrests, Amanda knows just how lucky she is to be alive.

On 19 March 2024, John phoned 999 when Amanda was experiencing significant pain in her shoulder and a dull ache down her right arm.

As Paramedic Sophie Gowdy and Emergency Care Support Worker (ECSW) Denver Giles arrived it was clear to them, Amanda was about to go into cardiac arrest.

The pair jumped into action, delivering vital CPR and administering two shocks with a defibrillator to revive Amanda.

Emergency Care Support Worker (ECSW), Lily Keen, and Associate Ambulance Practitioner (AAP), Jasmine Rumsey, arrived shortly after to assist. The team had to use intraosseous (IO) cannulation to administer medication before taking Amanda to hospital – a procedure not often used and only when the body is shutting down completely.

Paramedic Sophie said: “Although I’ve dealt with cardiac arrests before, I’ve never seen someone go into cardiac arrest. It was quite scary. I’ve been at SECAmb for five years and Amanda is the first out-of-hospital cardiac arrest patient I’ve attended that’s survived. The minutes after a cardiac arrest are critical and I’m so grateful that I got to meet Amanda and see her doing so well.”

Denver added: “It was fantastic to see Amanda and John again. We don’t often get to see patients that we’ve helped, so it was a special reminder of what we do.”

Amanda remained in intensive care for a further eight days following the cardiac arrest where she found out it had been caused by a heart attack.

Upon reuniting with the ambulance crews, Amanda said: “It was so lovely to meet Sophie, Denver, Lily and Jasmine who I am deeply grateful to. Thanks to them, I’ve been able to meet my first grandson and for that, I can’t thank them enough.”

Recovery has been a long journey for Amanda and John, having required regular hospital visits since, for other medical conditions. However, they are optimistic about the future and urging others to educate themselves on the signs of a heart attack and learning CPR.

Online learning tools on how to perform CPR can be found here. The British Heart Foundation also provide information on the symptoms of a heart attack to look out for and what to do in an emergency.  Find out more by clicking here.