A Seaford man and keen tennis player recently reunited with the lifesavers that came to his aid when he suffered a cardiac arrest during a tennis finals match.
Now 75-year-old, Nick Lade, and his family recently visited our Polegate Make Ready Centre – just over a year on from Nick’s cardiac arrest. Here, they met with Associate Ambulance Practitioners (AAP), Amie-Rose King and Kirk Collison, Paramedic Rachel Pratt, Operational Team Leader (OTL) Kirsty Taylor, Critical Care Paramedic Justin Carding and Advanced Paramedic Practitioner (APP) Thomas Langford and thanked them for their life-saving actions.
On 20 July 2024, Nick was playing in the Seaford and Blatchington Lawn Tennis Club’s finals match when he started experiencing chest pain before collapsing and stopped breathing. Two members of the tennis club jumped into action, calling 999 and starting CPR.
Amie and Thomas arrived first on scene, closely followed by Rachel, Kirk, Kirsty and Justin. The team managed to revive Nick however, he deteriorated again experiencing a second cardiac arrest on court.
The team managed to stabilise Nick and got him to hospital where he spent six weeks in ICU, three in an induced coma and then another week in a side ward recovering.
Nick said: “I’m so grateful to everyone for their help that day and to meet them just after one year on was really special. I can’t thank them enough that I get to spend more time with my family and I’m back playing tennis again and swimming in the sea.”
Nick’s daughter, Danielle, said: “It was a really scary time for all of us and we can’t thank everyone enough for ensuring Dad had the best chance possible and that he is still here with us today. It was an honour to meet everyone again – the difference you make to people’s lives is truly amazing!”
OTL, Kirsty said: “We all remember this incident well, so it was fantastic to meet Nick and his family again. To hear he is now back playing tennis already is truly amazing.”
APP, Thomas added: “The minutes immediately following a cardiac arrest are critical, and huge credit to those at the tennis club who responded so quickly by delivering CPR. Their swift action gave Nick the best possible chance of survival. It was truly wonderful to meet Nick and his family again and to see how well he’s doing now.”
With more than 30,000 out-of-hospital cardiac arrests happening every year in the UK, and fewer than one-in-ten patients surviving, early intervention is crucial and learning CPR could save a life.
Learning CPR can be done in as little as 15 minutes with free, online tools from the British Heart Foundation here.