This morning I did a talk at The Anglia Ruskin School of Medicine and I was amazed to hear that a couple of the students had already read our book! One comment made was that as it featured personal stories it made it much easier to relate to than the formal textbooks they were reading for their studies. These students will become the Doctors of tomorrow and having a resource such as our book can really help them understand what it is like for us.
A question was asked of the audience whether any of them had done CPR for real Surprisingly, well to me anyway, of the 50 or so students at least 3 hands went up. Remember although these are medical students they were in the first year of their studies so I would guess that played no part.
I was also inspired by a young man there who as an 11-year-old had attempted CPR on his father who’d had a cardiac arrest. Sadly, unbeknownst to him, his father had already passed in the night and so it was in vain.
In the aftermath of that event, he resolved to become a Doctor and is now studying to do so. He is only at the start of his medical journey but even after only talking to him for a short time I’m sure he will make a very fine Doctor. He shows great courage to turn such a bad experience into something positive and is a lesson we can all learn from…
After our first meet-up in February 2015, I realised I was not alone. It was the first time since my cardiac arrest the previous year that I had spoken face-to-face with someone who had experienced what I had. This was also true for my wife, who also happened to be my lifesaver. From that meet-up, the idea of SCA UK was born. Since then, we have achieved a considerable amount, primarily providing information, resources and support to others in a similar situation but also raising the profile of survivorship and the need for better post-discharge care. We are starting to get traction in this, and with the formation of the charity, I genuinely believe we have a bright future ahead and will make a significant difference in the lives of many who join our ranks.