Our Lives
‘I’m scared, please help me'
As my husband gasped for breath, I prayed for help. What happened next rocked me to my core.
A little figure jumped up and down by the door of our holiday caravan, and giggled with excitement.
‘Daddy, Daddy, come on!’ my toddler, Teegan, cried. My husband, Steve, smiled. ‘All right, I’m coming!’ he said. He took her hand as I grabbed my bag and keys.
We lived in Manchester, but regularly visited our static caravan in Towyn, Conwy.
We loved it so much, we’d recently bought a coffee shop nearby and planned to move to the area for good.
Steve and I had been married for seven years and felt excited about what the future held.
It was the day of the annual Rhyl Air Show, and we’d planned to watch the vintage planes fly overhead. A real daddy’s girl, little Teegan, aged two, tugged at Steve’s hand.
She was raring to go! We headed along the beach, towards the pedestrian bridge to get the best view.
But as we crossed the bridge, Steve clutched his chest.
‘I don’t feel well,’ he said. ‘I feel sick.’
He sat down on the ground and I felt the pulse in his neck. It was racing, and I began to worry.
‘Let’s go back to the caravan,’ I said.
But Steve told me he couldn’t stand up.
Years earlier, he’d been diagnosed with high blood pressure and a heart condition called atrial fibrillation. But this seemed to be under control with medication.
I dialled 999. ‘It’s my husband,’ I told the operator. ‘Please can someone come?’
Within minutes, a first responder arrived.
I thought: Thank goodness. Everything’s going to be OK.
He attached an oxygen mask to Steve’s face, checked his vitals and called for back-up from an ambulance. But as the minutes ticked by, Steve seemed to be getting worse.
He sounded weak as he told the first responder: ‘Please help me. I don’t feel right.’
All I could do was walk Teegan up and down the bridge to stop her becoming distressed.
‘Daddy’s just having a rest,’ I said.
But I knew something was seriously wrong.
Then, Steve vomited what looked like brown bile.
‘I’m scared, please help me,’ he said.
Suddenly, he slumped sideways and hit his head on the first responder’s bag.
Steve had lost consciousness — his chest wasn’t moving and his lips had turned blue.
I felt terrified.
‘What’s going on?’ I asked.
‘He’s not breathing!’
‘We have to wait for the paramedics,’ the first responder replied.
I couldn’t understand why he wasn’t giving Steve CPR. But he was the professional, so I trusted him.
By now, it was almost
