Would you know what to do in a cardiac emergency? Ask our expert

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It’s a common belief when we hear about sudden cardiac arrest or heart attacks, that it affects someone older, someone unwell, someone else. But cardiac arrest can happen at any age and as MyDefib has noted, 80% of cardiac arrests that happen outside of hospital occur at home*, where family members become the first responders.

Survivor and Sudden Cardiac Arrest UK advocate Gareth Cole is helping to challenge the myths and answer the questions many families are afraid to ask, from who’s really at risk, to what you should do in those first critical minutes and what life is like after.

As a survivor and advocate for cardiac arrest awareness, he is partnering with MyDefib to turn awareness into action at home - empowering families to respond confidently to cardiac arrest before it happens, with the mission of saving lives.

Do you have a question about heart health, heart attacks, or cardiac arrests? Gareth is here to answer them.

Share your question by 17/04/026 for a chance to win a £200 voucher (T&Cs).

References - *
mydefib.co.uk/about/

About Gareth:
Gareth knows firsthand the challenges of life after cardiac arrest.

As a survivor, he has turned his experience into a passion for supporting others on their recovery journey. Through his role with Sudden Cardiac Arrest UK, he helps raise awareness, advocate for better aftercare, and foster a strong, supportive community for survivors and their families.

Gareth believes that recovery is more than just surviving—it’s about reclaiming life, finding purpose, and connecting with others who truly understand. His positivity, resilience, and dedication make him an inspiring figure in the cardiac arrest survivor community.

This happened to my husband, this Tuesday night just past. He has sarcopenia muscular atrophy, Rheumatoid Arthritis, and a few others issues being tested. He started having heart problems, it was 2.30a.m., he woke me up. Here is what I did:

I remained calm. I talked him through taking small breaths, sat him up on the bed while I quickly got dressed in PJ'S, got him dressed in joggers and t-shirt, calmly instructed my eldest (18) to make sure the youngest stay asleep and to sleep in our bedroom with the dogs. During all of this I booked a taxi because of ambulance wait times. I had to half carry my husband to the taxi, then carry him into the hospital (nobody outside to help me), then he collapsed for a 3rd time in front of 2 prison guards chained to a prisoner. The prisoner unhelpfully told me to leave him on the floor and wait for the medics, and that's when I finally snapped and told him to shut the f*ck up (he did).

Throughout it all - I stayed calm. I knew I couldn't afford to have a melt down and panic because that would have made the situation worse, it wasn't about me, my husband needed me, my kids needed to not be scared.

His heart enzyme was through the roof and he was about to have a massive heart attack. Stopping, thinking, calm, small breaths, get there by any means possible to the hospital (car is in the garage). Just stay calm.

This was thankfully a freak episode and he is back to normal, but once they were doing his ob's, I went and sat in the hallway and cried my eyes out. It's OK to take that moment once they are in the right place and let it all out. Get your loved one seen to - Then break down. Adrenaline really helped in this case. I have also been on first aid courses, and lately I have been lifting weights at the gym so I can support my husband a bit more when he collapses. His legs quite often go out from under him and I need to catch him (he's a bit embarrassed to use a wheelchair , but he has walking aids, we are almost there with a wheelchair.) I don't ever want to be left in a position where I cannot help my husband and I don't know what to do, so also do something to improve your own health and knowledge - Routine.

Edit** Sorry, forgot to mention I had my daughter make up 500mg soluble aspirin. I made him sip slowly on that while we waited for the taxi. I had called the hospital ahead to let them know, told them I had given aspirin, and I was keeping him warm! Always keep them warm.

Also, he's only 41.

I did a first aid course decades ago which included some advice about cardiac emergencies. But I wouldn't remember it now. What would you recommend to refresh skills, are there companies running courses or would an online course be enough? I wouldn't feel confident dealing with an emergency on my own at all.

I had a heart attack recently. Absolutely classic symptoms, sudden onset of back pain, radiating up to my neck, into my jaw, swiftly followed by horrendous central crushing chest pain, then within seconds, pain and pins and needles down my left arm.
DH called 999, and described exactly the above. The call handler was rude, sarcastic, dismissive. Said that we would get a call back in 2 hours. DH was on that call for 15 minutes begging for help.
Clearly she had decided I was a hysterical woman having a panic attack.
DH managed to speak to her manager/senior person. He also suggested sips of water and a call back in 2 hours . Finally, when I was struggling to breathe and shivering with cold, he grudgingly said he would send a first responder, who was just a few minutes away.
She took one look and radioed for an ambulance.
I was blue lighted straight to resus, had an angiogram and a stent. The nurse in CCU said that if I had been a man, I would have got an ambulance immediately.
There was no way DH would have been able to get me to the hospital.
I wouldn't have lasted 2 hours for a call back.
I would be very interested to know how many women are fobbed off and how many die as a result.

That’s frightening! I wondered if I shouldve said chest pains when I called for an ambulance. I couldn’t breathe. They said it would an hour.

Your story shows that wouldn’t made a difference. What worked made them respond differently to our calls?

luckily my dp took me. As soon as they saw me they took me to resus. Apparently I had less than an hour left. Now living with CHF.

There’s a lot of incorrect knowledge on here:

heart attack - usually caused by a blood clot formed in an artery in the heart (mostly caused by a chemical reaction to a rupture in plaque in the artery. Does NOT need a shock from a de-fib, al though having one on hand isn’t a bad idea Often presents VERY differently to the usual list of symptoms. A heart attack is not the same as a cardiac arrest.

Cardiac Arrest - when the heart stops beating EFFECTIVELY. Usually requires a defib - which actually shocks the heart still from the chaotic rhythm called Ventricular Fibrillation (VF). It’s a bit like CTL-ALT-DELETE and causes the heart to reboot (hopefully)

AED - the public access defibs are foolproof. They will not shock unless there’s a shockable rhythm. After analysing the rhythm it will either say ‘shock advised’ and give you time to NOT TOUCH THE PATIENT. If it says No shock advised, there’s something else going on so continue CPR.

CHAIN OF SURVIVAL - early recognition (is the person breathing NORMALLY - ie not irregular gasping/snores - this is agonal breathing and is a symptom of cardiac arrest)

early call - call 999 asap, while you start CPR, they will direct you from that point. They have all defib locations and will direct you to one. Try to get someone to go get it. 5 minutes in VF with no decent CPR = dead - now or in a couple of days.

early defib - the chaotic VF rhythm is a fatal rhythm that ONLY defib can reset.

early specialist treatment - usually emergency angiogram and angioplasty.

I’ve had one heart attack - wasn’t sweating, or vomiting, not in horrendous pain, did have diarrhoea, heavy arms and a squeezing feeling around my throat.

2 episodes of unstable angina (getting ready for a heart attack) - the first felt like just heaviness across the chest, the second was more how I had previously thought a heart attack would feel - severe squeezing pain across the chest, radiating up to throat.

I was 52 when I had my heart attack. They think there’s possibly something genetic which makes me create too much cholesterol. I am now borderline for heart failure, with my heart only 50% effective.

Heart attacks need the W position - sat up against a wall. If they’re struggling so much they are laying down it’s probably heading into cardiac arrest and recovery position is a very bad idea!

My heart attack was 2019. We did get an ambulance but the paramedic was clearly irritated and thought I was a woman of a certain age having a ‘moment’. My bp was fine, sats fine, I wasn’t grey or sweaty or vomiting. He was getting ready to leave and asked me was I starting to feel better - I said no, and he reluctantly did a 12-lead ecg. Massive inferior STemi. It’s horrific how prevalent subconscious bias is.

Are you ok now? I found the physical recovery fine but mentally was very scared for a long time.

I’m back in it all again, developed unstable angina in January and ended up with another stent.

Yes, I am ok physically, but the fear I felt at the time, when she said nobody was coming, is still with me. I really thought I was going to die and I remember thinking that woman had the power to send help or let me die, just because she had made up her mind that I was a silly woman making a fuss.
If DH had not stuck to his guns and argued with her I wouldn't have survived.
I couldn't move, I couldn't speak, I was struggling to breathe and all I could hear was this awful woman saying "I have done my triage and you will get a call back in 2 hours".
I am sorry you had that experience too.
I think it is all too common.
I am sorry you are having problems again. It is awful to think that we could be denied help just because of someone's sexist attitude.

Yes, it all feels very traumatic doesn’t it. We flew in on blues and straight into the Cath lab. There was a group of people in theatre gowns, stood at the entrance to the suite as they trollied me in. One introduced himself while another one put pads on my chest. I couldn’t believe it was happening. They then ran down the corridor with me.

Be kind to yourself, and maybe talk to someone? I found the cardiac rehab was fab physically but not great for the mental after effects. I have used the BHF advice line a couple of times, and they are brilliant - they’re cardiac nurses so understand it all.

Also, maybe put a complaint into PALS? The operator clearly needs training.

I made a complaint.
They said she triaged correctly.
I am going to take it further, but I am not in a place to revisit it just yet.

Better to have broken ribs and be alive than vice versa!

My grandad died of a heart attack in 1976. When his autopsy was done, they found that the heart attack that killed him wasn’t his first. I have certainly heard that it is possible to confuse heartburn with a heart attack, so I’m guessing this is what happened to my grandad. How do we tell the difference between the two?

wtf. How can they say that when that happened to you? Clearly incorrectly triaged.

I thought about putting in a complaint about my experience but there seems no point

All I can say is, once you’ve been a cardiac customer, they take you very seriously. Definitely mention chest pain.

for those asking what the difference is between cardiac pain and indigestion - only based on my experience as I’ve never had horrendous symptoms - Every time,I just knew something was wrong. I remember saying to my husband ‘I just need a paramedic to tell me I’m not having a heart attack’.

It’s very common to unfortunately break ribs while delivering CPR, regardless of its you or a medical expert.

What I do worry about this post is that it’s not clear that you DO NOT perform CPR to someone who is breathing for themselves.

Reading the above stories of women with heart attack symptoms and being effectively triaged down the line by call centre staff is really scary - why do we think this is the case - definitely more time should be spent with anyone presenting with heart attack symptoms, to enable a blue light service to be given to them.

To clarify to a few posters, the ambulance call takers are not clinicians, they follow the standard Pathways triage system which all services use. The call taker did not utilise discretion or judgement on deciding to dispatch an ambulance or not. The Pathways system isn’t perfect but it’s extremely risk averse and over dispatches ambulances rather than the reverse.

The paramedic said I was the only call out they had had on shift that actually needed an ambulance, yet the call handler was absolutely determined I wasn't getting one. Something is going wrong.

I don't understand how a call handler can hear "central crushing chest pain radiating to back, neck, jaw and down left arm" several times and the caller begging for help, yet still decide a call back in 2 hours is all that is required. She just didn't want to change her mind.

The only thing I can think of is that if perhaps you didn’t answer all of the questions it went down as a ‘not possible to triage’.

In which case send an ambulance?

I couldn’t breathe. Was gasping for air. Short laboured breathing and it was still no. I’m lucky to be here.

My husband had a cardiac arrest in 2024. At home I thought he was having some form of fit and was unresponsive. He came round on his own and thought I was making a fuss when I took him to an and e as he could remember nothing. No pain and no other symptoms. Same happened on the way to hospital and again in triage. Luckily when the heart did not restart he was in the right place for them to defib successfully. He now has a pacemaker to keep him going but is otherwise living life as normal. I didn’t know about agonal breathing before this so I think more awareness of this is important.

I had exactly these symptoms and was luckily able to have someone drive me to ed. There needs to be more education on how the symptoms present differently in woman. I can't fault the cardiac service where I am except for little support emotionally from the cardiac rehab nurses in the early days when I really needed it but like everywhere in the nhs they are understaffed. The bhf rehab nurses were fantastic.

DH thought about dragging me downstairs and into the car, but it was the middle of the night, cold and raining and he worried that doing CPR on the roadside would be more risky than getting the help to us. The paramedics agreed with him. I was stretchered out, blue lighted to hospital and straight into resus. I am so grateful to the paramedics. I am still having flashbacks to the awful call handler though.
Any member of the public who had watched a bit of TV would recognise the classic symptoms. Why that call handler was so aggressive I have no idea.

She just kept saying "I have done my triage and you will get a call back in 2 hours".