Scots cardiac arrest survivor backs defibrillator campaign

"I have this really clear memory of standing thinking ‘This is the moment before everything changes’," said the mother-of-three, who is a history lecturer at the University of St Andrews.

A keen surfer, her husband had headed down to the East Sands to make the most of the ideal weather conditions in November last year. After that, he draws a blank, his only memory is waking up in hospital.

Unbeknown to him, he had suffered a cardiac arrest on the sand after coming out of the water. Only one in ten people who suffer an out-of-hospital arrest will survive. Having someone close by who knows cardiopulmonary rescuscitation and the use of a defibrillator can double the chances of staying alive.

However, it is estimated that public-access defibrillators (PADs) are used in less than one in ten out-of-hospital cardiac arrests across the UK,  often because 999 call handlers aren’t always aware that one is available nearby because the ambulance service hasn’t been told about it.

By luck, a fellow surfer Scott Mitchell was equipped with CPR skills as an army officer while another, Lewis Hamilton, was a retired firefighter who knew where the nearest defibrillator was located. The pair were assisted by another man, a gynaecologist.

The men took it in turns performing CPR and used the defibrillator on him until the paramedics arrived. 

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He was taken to Ninewells Hospital in Dundee where he was later diagnosed with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, a usually inherited condition where the heart muscle becomes abnormally thick making it harder for the organ to pump blood around the body.

The 48-year-old who is an academic writer, was later fitted with an implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD), which picks up abnormal heart rhythms and tries to correct it.

Mr Shakman, who lives in St Andrews, said he owes his life to the surfers.

“Quite simply, I wouldn’t be here without them to see my children grow up, to spend time with my family," he said.

“They were ready to respond and determined to keep me alive. 

"I am so grateful to the whole community that came together to save me. 

"I, my family, my friends - we can never thank them enough. What happened has definitely made me think about what is really important in life – family, friends.

"Knowing you could go at any moment, makes you hold on to every moment."

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Mr Mitchell recalls seeing Mr Shakman lying on his back on the sand as he was putting his wetsuit on.

"I thought he was just stretching but when I looked over again there was people standing over him and I knew that wasn’t right.

“I shouted to a few lads in the car park to call an ambulance. He was unconscious, unresponsive and wasn’t breathing. I remember doing CPR for about six minutes and Lewis was doing mouth-to-mouth.

"It was during Covid and there were no paramedics in the ambulance so we had to keep doing CPR in the ambulance until the air ambulance arrived.

“It’s weird because it’s part of my job and I’ve done multiple tours in Afghanistan and Iraq and have had to deal with the worst-case scenario casualties, but I found it harder with Bill, because it was unexpected.”

A new UK-wide campaign is urging people who look after defibrillators to register them on The Circuit, which connects the devices to NHS ambulance services. The devices are only used in one in ten cardiac arrests because ambulance call handlers are unable to locate them.

While the 14 UK ambulance services have previously had their own regional databases, The Circuit will eventually replace these with a new national service. It is already live in 12 out of 14 ambulance service regions including Scotland.

James Jopling, Head of BHF Scotland, said: “To put it simply, knowing where the nearest defibrillator is could be the difference between life and death.

“The Circuit is pioneering technology which will help emergency services direct bystanders more quickly to a defibrillator when someone collapses with a cardiac arrest. But for The Circuit to save lives, it is vital that unregistered defibrillators are put on the system."

Pauline Howie, Chief Executive of the Scottish Ambulance Service, added: "When someone calls 999 to report a cardiac arrest, the call handlers in our control rooms are trained to provide the location of the nearest registered defibrillator within 500m of the call.

"We would urge everyone to register the defibrillators that they are responsible for on The Circuit, so that they can be easily located and accessed when needed.” 

Jesse Lingard, Gary Lineker and Harry Redknapp joined calls for thousands of defibrillators to be funded at football clubs around the UK following Christian Eriksen’s collapse at Euro 2020.

Denmark’s team doctor Morten Boesen said the midfielder “was gone” after suffering a cardiac arrest during the nation’s opening fixture at the tournament against Finland, with the 29-year-old having been revived by medical staff on the pitch.