A Kent science teacher, who is lucky to be alive after suffering a tear of his major aorta artery where it exits the heart, is reunited with his lifesavers.
With just a 15 to 30 per cent chance of surviving the Type A aortic dissection, South East Coast Ambulance Service colleagues were delighted to be reunited with the father of three from Parkwood in Gillingham, Kent, at Medway Make Ready Centre on Tuesday, 20 August.
Giles Phillips, now aged 49, who is a head of department at a secondary school in Kent, suffered a life-threatening tear in the main artery in the early hours of the morning on 17 November 2020.
Resource Dispatcher, Shereen Cooper dispatched multiple resources to scene, with Paramedic, Lauren Judge, and Emergency Care Support Worker, Jace Simpson arriving within eight minutes of the call. On the crew’s arrival, Giles was conscious, however was vomiting and struggling for breath.
Student Paramedic, Amy Harvey, Paramedic, Leah-Ann Bothe and Critical Care Paramedic Antony Bailes were next to arrive on scene, before being joined by The Air Ambulance Charity Kent, Surrey, Sussex.
Together they stabalised Giles before transporting him by road to Kings College Hospital where he spent four days in the intensive care unit, as well as a further four days in the high dependency ward. In that time, Giles underwent a total of nine hours of emergency heart surgery to repair the torn artery.
Now nearly four years on, Giles, Chris and their two children now aged 10 and 18 met the team who helped to save his life and say thank you. The family were given a tour of the Emergency Operations Centre where they learnt more about the process from the initial 999 call to resources being dispatched.
Giles returned to school in his role as Head of Department within four months of the incident and is back to teaching his subject, biology.
Since then, Chris has joined The Air Ambulance Charity Kent, Surrey, Sussex (AAKSS) within a voluntary capacity as part of their team based in Rochester, and 10-year-old son, Max, has become a young ambassador for them, participating in fundraising and raising awareness of the services that they provide.
Giles’ wife, Chris said: “I awoke to hear Giles making some peculiar noises. I thought he was choking or having a stroke, but when prompted to open his mouth by Emergency Medical Advisor, Claire Perriss, his jaw was completely locked shut. Although Giles was conscious, he was agitated, confused, and distressed, and so I immediately called 999 for an ambulance.”
Giles said: “When I awoke three days later in intensive care, having no memory of what had happened, I was completely surprised to see a familiar face; an ex-student of mine who I had taught in the years prior, was standing at the end of my bed caring for me.”
Claire said: “I was over the moon that nearly four years down the line Giles and his family wanted to meet us. It was a really rewarding experience and I was thrilled that Giles is back to good health and is recovering well.”
Leah-Ann said: “It must have been an extremely scary time for the family, especially as Giles had no warning signs of what was coming. I can’t thank them enough for coming to meet us all.”
Max said: “I wanted to become more involved with KSS because of the doctors and paramedics who helped my dad. They looked after him and made sure he got better and that has motivated me to raise awareness and money.”
Shereen said: “I was so happy to hear that Giles and his family wanted to meet us. It was a fantastic afternoon, and we all wish him the best of luck for the future.”
Lauren said: “It was lovely to be able to fill in some of the gaps in Giles’ memory regarding the morning of the incident. This is all part of the recovery and healing process and I’m thrilled that we all got to be part of this positive story.”