ON the morning of Thursday 23 July, a group of Islanders worked in perfect harmony to bring a man found lying without a pulse on St Brelade’s Bay back to life.
The man – a Dutchman holidaying in Jersey with his wife – had collapsed during an early-morning run while preparing for an upcoming half-marathon.
The fit and healthy 57-year-old had suffered a huge, freak heart attack. According to his smartwatch, his heartbeat had come to a complete halt for more than five minutes.
In the end, his life was saved by the kindness of a handful of strangers, members of the community who acted in heroic unison under the most extraordinary of circumstances.
Those involved on the day have now opened up to the JEP about how they were helped by an amazing jigsaw of “sliding door” moments; tiny increments of good fortune that saw the right people in the right place at exactly the right time.
The first of these strange occurrences – one that would set into motion the chain of events that ultimately saved the man’s life – involved lawyer and St Brelade resident Chris Philpott making the out-of-character decision to venture out for a quick pre-work swim.
Because it was low tide, he asked his friend, Ben Richardson – who had, in turn, made the unusual decision to return to the bay for a second coffee – whether he fancied a quick walk down to the surf.
Just as the two men were about to part ways, Chris spotted a man in running clothes lying stock-still in the middle of the beach. Half-jokingly, he suggested that Ben walk over and check in on him.
“I went into the sea, turned around, and that’s when I could see Ben next to the man, just waving,” he remembered.
“The man was gone, so it was a bit of a shock,” Ben, a builder and fellow St Brelade’s resident, added. “But I managed to sort of gather my thoughts and called 999, before starting CPR and shouting for help.”
Benjamin Hart – an employee at the St Brelade’s based activity centre Absolute Adventures – heard his friend shout and immediately sprang into action.
“I start bolting, aiming for our trucks, thinking there might be something I can grab,” he explained. “Then, realistically, I thought I probably just need to get there, and then I absolutely screamed.”
The sound of the watersport instructor’s scream echoed across the beach, reaching the ears of Vanessa Averty, Max Wiltshire and Rob Le Monnier, charity workers at the St Ouen-based Ocean Therapy Centre Healing Waves.
“We only happened to be there because there’d been no surf in St Ouen,” Vanessa explained. “Max and Rob then jumped in our four-wheel drive truck, bombed it down to where they were, which was brilliant because we’ve got a first aid box that we always carry.”
Vanessa – a trained lifeguard for 32 years – then had the presence of mind to veer away and locate a defibrillator attached to the nearby Solshine Café.
At the centre of the storm remained Ben who, as well as now being in contact with emergency call handler Alice Lonergan, was calmly keeping the Dutchman’s chest compressions in rhythm.
“I was shaking like crazy,” he recalled. “But whoever was on the end of the 999 call was very calm. She was certainly my saviour when I was on my own for a bit.”
Ms Lonergan told the JEP that it had been “amazing to be part of a situation where people come together, work as a team, and do everything they can to save a life.”
“Calls like this are never easy, but the gentleman that made the call and did CPR was amazing,” she added.
“He remained calm, listened to my instructions and the group of people worked together really well. Being able to play a part in that process is really rewarding.”
This man was dead for five minutes, and if we hadn’t done anything, he would still be dead
benjamin hart
Another integral component of the team responsible for coaxing the Dutch tourist back to life was local fireman and former lifeguard Jonny Tipping.
In the area because he was uncharacteristically early for a flight to London, the Jerseyman sprinted over to help his friend Ben after hearing loud shouts for help.
“Jonny took control of the situation,” Ben said. “He got the man’s head in a better position, made sure his airway was clear and immediately started on breaths.”
With Ben on chest compressions and Jonny on breaths, the group used a defibrillator from a beachside hotel to shock the man – but saw no change. Benjamin of Absolute Adventures then used the second defibrillator, sourced by Vanessa, to shock him again.
“After the second one we saw some shallow breathing, and that is when we were like, something is happening here,” Ben recalled.
The man had begun “agonal breathing”, a phenomenon described by Vanessa of Healing Waves as “fish-out-of-water” gasping stemming from low oxygen in the blood.
The collective diligently continued with their resuscitation attempts while waiting for the emergency service workers, who were soon driven onto the beach in a Healing Waves van.
Perhaps the most crucial piece of lateral thinking then followed, as beach equipment owner Jono Steventon, of Jono’s Watersports, removed a row deck chairs off his flat-bed truck, so that the man could be transported to an ambulance parked on a neighbouring slipway.
Ben explained: “We stretched him onto the flat-bed truck while the paramedics could still work on him, and Jono managed to drive them [to the slip]. That doesn’t seem a lot, but it was all of these tiny increments that shaved off so much time that it probably saved his life.”
The man was driven to hospital, sedated, put into an induced coma and eventually, incredibly, brought back around. Then, on Monday 3 August, he was repatriated to the Netherlands to continue treatment.
His wife, son and two daughters recently stopped off at St Brelade’s Bay to thank and hug the Islanders who had saved their loved one’s life.
“His wife came over and she just started crying,” Ben said. “I’m not always the most emotive, but when I hugged his wife, that was full-on, in the loveliest way.”
The group now say that they are determined to make sure that, when something like this happens again, heroics won’t be necessary.
They argue that the incident has highlighted an urgent need for an up-to-date map displaying the location of all defibrillators in the Island.
In addition, Ben told the JEP that he is planning, with the rest of the team, to set-up a CPR event at St Brelade’s Bay to teach Islanders the basics of first aid.
“Don’t be afraid to get involved,” his friend Benjamin advised. “Do some training and don’t worry about things that might happen after.
“Just get stuck in. This man was dead for five minutes, and if we didn’t do anything, he would still be dead.”
