18-year-old who suffered cardiac arrest on bus thanks paramedics at uplifting church service

A young man and his family have thanked the paramedics who saved his life when he suffered a cardiac arrest on the top deck of a bus in north London.

Joshua, his mother Cecile and brother Austin had just caught a bus in Hornsey to Sunday Service at St Francis De Sales Catholic Church, a weekly family tradition, when he suddenly collapsed.

Cecile said: “As I came upstairs I saw Joshua on the floor. I tried to put him into the recovery position and told the driver to stop the bus. I listened to his chest and he wasn’t breathing so I started chest compressions while another passenger dialled 999.”

London Ambulance Service crews arrived on scene in a matter of minutes to stabilise Joshua using a defibrillator to restart his heart. They gave him five electric shocks from the device and he was breathing again.

Firefighters from London Fire Brigade helped to remove him from the bus by creating extra space around the staircase for a safe extraction.

Joshua was taken on blue lights to the Heart Attack Centre at St Bartholomew’s Hospital in central London where he was treated by cardiologists and put into a medically-induced coma to support his recovery.

Joshua and Cecile were reunited with the ambulance crews after the family invited them to a special service at their local church in Tottenham.

He also hopes that his story will inspire others to learn cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) skills and support the new London Heart Starters campaign to fund additional defibrillators for the communities in London that need them most. These devices can make a crucial difference between life and death when someone’s heart stops beating.

Joshua, who is studying business at university, said: “Anything can happen and that’s why it’s so important that Londoners are prepared to save someone’s life with CPR and the use of a defibrillator.

“I couldn’t remember anything when I was in a coma but I know how hard the paramedics worked to keep me alive.”

Andy Parker, Advanced Paramedic at London Ambulance Service, was one of the first on scene and attended the special reunion. He said: “It is wonderful to see Joshua making a really good recovery. It required lots of specialist skills and expertise from all our crews but also our partners at London Fire Brigade.

“We were all determined to give Joshua the best chance of survival. I cannot stress enough the importance of learning CPR to give people the best chance whilst the ambulance service arrives.”

Cecile added: “I can’t thank the paramedics enough for what they did. They really fought to save his life. Andy comforted me and kept in touch to see how Joshua was doing.

“The paramedics became like family.”

Recent analysis by the London Ambulance Service has revealed that dozens of neighbourhoods are ‘defibrillator deserts’ – where there is little or no access to a lifesaving device.

The data has revealed large discrepancies between communities in outcomes for cardiac arrest and the availability of life-saving devices. Households in more deprived areas are more likely to be in an area in greater need of additional defibrillators.

There are eight priority neighbourhoods in the borough of Haringey. These are Roundway, Noel Park, Bruce Grove South, South Tottenham, Tottenham North West, Harringay Ladder North, Tottenham Green West and Harringay Warehouse District and Vartry.

Help us place defibs in the heart of every community by donating at the London Ambulance Charity website.