Carly collapsed and was only saved by two cousins giving her CPR Carly Williams, a 34-year-old British bridesmaid suffered a cardia...
Carly collapsed and was only saved by two cousins giving her CPR
Carly Williams, a 34-year-old British bridesmaid suffered a cardiac arrest and collapsed after walking down the aisle at her sister’s wedding.
According to The Sun UK, the woman only survived after two cousins gave her CPR - having learned the technique on a first aid course just weeks earlier.
The mum of two said: “I’m lucky to be alive, but I feel so guilty about ruining my sister’s big day.
"In all honesty I can’t really remember much at all. The last thing I remember is being on the train in the morning.
“I came up with my niece.
“Literally there’s a massive gap and I remember waking up two days later in hospital and just not having a clue what had happened.”
Carly was maid of honour at sister Jodie’s wedding at a central London hotel in July when she was taken ill.
Jodie said: “I got to the top of the aisle and I heard some commotion behind me and I saw my sister laying on one of the other bridesmaid’s laps
“I honestly thought, ‘What is she doing?’
“I just thought she was being a drama queen to be honest. I thought it was a bit over the top.
“Then it quickly became apparent that it was serious.
"Mum was screaming, ‘Get a defibrillator' and then my cousins came forward.”
The pair - David, 28, and Peter Cooper, 27, - used a hotel defibrillator to restart Carly's heart.
She was rushed to hospital and put in an induced coma - where doctors discovered an electrical problem with her heart.
Carly, of Bromley, London, has now been fitted with an internal defibrillator, but doctors were unable to determine what caused the cardiac arrest.
She said: "It shows how having CPR training saved someone's life."
Jodie, 28, said: “It’s only because our cousins knew CPR and there was a defibrillator that she’s here.”
Jodie cancelled the £70,000 wedding and rushed to the hospital to be at her sister's bedside.
She added: "We haven't set another date, but I'm hoping early next year. I want to do it before the wedding season starts."
The family is now raising cash for defibrillators in schools. Fewer than one in 10 people survive a cardiac arrest outside of hospital.
British Heart Foundation’s Simon Gillespie said: “When someone collapses suddenly with cardiac arrest every second counts. CPR can help double chances of survival.”
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