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.

The ICD is there to administer a shock, or shocks, if your family member is unfortunate enough to have another episode. ICDs are generally very reliable and very effective and they are designed to fire whist the patient is still conscious. If however the ICD doesn't fire, or the shock doesn't maintain consciousness, the yes, you should definitely attempt CPR and find a defibrillator in exactly the same way that you would for a patient who doesn't have an ICD.

The short answer to your question is yes, you can, but it takes time and effort. Medication to restore heart function after a cardiac event is significantly approved from even a decade ago, but it can only do so much. The rest is down to lifestyle choices and commitment, however there is no reason why a patient cant become as healthy, or even more healthy, than they were prior to the event.

What you have written here is entirely correct and doesn't need any further input from me ! Like you, I do get frustrated when people refer to cardiac arrests as heart attacks, and vice versa, but after more than a decade in this field I do understand it to a certain extent. Most people don't know the difference unless they have been directly affected by one or the other (or both) and honestly, why would they. If the media misreport it then my hackles go up !

Sadly you are absolutely correct, in the UK women are roughly 10% less likely to receive bystander CPR than men are. This is often down to fear of being accused of, or prosecuted for, inapproprita touching. Cultural differences also come into play here. One important thing to note is that, whilst the UK does not have a "Good Samaritan" law as such, there hasn't been a single case of someone saving a life, or attempting to save a life, being successfully prosecuted for inappropriate touching, in fact courts tend to take a very dim vew of the accuser, and have even ordered compensation to be paid to the accused. Incidentally, its not just CPR thats the issue here. Even if CPR is performed defibrillator pads are supposed to be attached to bare skin which means removing the bra and many men won't do that if the patient is not known to them. This is another area that needs to be addressed. There is a fantastic charity called Bra Off Defib On (BODO for short) that is doing really well at raising awereness in this area but there is still a lot more to be done.

I can’t believe you’re trying to flog a home defib for hundreds of pounds to someone to use on their elderly frail mother. If you were any kind of ‘expert’ you’d know the difference between a ‘cardiac arrest’ and a natural death. Shameful to prey on someone’s anxieties like this and deprive their loved one of a dignified death.

Thank you for the kind words. I've been out of cardiology for about 25-30 years.

Confession time, I did once defib someone who was still conscious. He was in VF and the printout of the ECG showed I'd defibbed less then 30 seconds after he started fibrilating.

A fairly large dose of midazolam was administered.

I've seen it once and done it once. Not fully conscious but enough for them to yelp. One was pre hospital (shocked twice), one just after arrival. Both had great outcomes.

What is worth noting in this thread was that with the pre hospital arrest, was that the reason he was still in CPR induced consciousness when we got to him was due to the high quality chest compressions his niece was doing. Good bystander CPR really does make a difference! He was discharged from hospital 5 days later.

A relative of mine, in his late 50s had a heart attack on the toilet, probably around 7am

No one found him til about 11 even though there were people at home.
I assume it was quick and helpful wasn't lain there dying, but what should you do if if you feel a bit off.

He was fit and well for his age, probably overtly better than average, but obvs had under lying, unknown heart condition..

How can more information be advertised and aimed at the fact women present very differently from the traditional way that is depicted in the media and pretty much everywhere. I had a heart attack last year, in my 40s, out of the blue. I had no idea i was having a heart attack when i woke up that morning and carried on my day, annoyed by intermittant right sided chest pain and a pain in my right wrist/arm. I didnt seek help for almost 20 hours because there was no way i thought i was having a heart attack as 1. I was in my 40s and 2. the pain was on the right side. Apart from the pain, i was fine and talking normally ect Even in A&E when my tropnin level reached over 4000, they still didnt beleive i was having a heart attack and it took a lot of pursading and a tenacious female registrar who wouldnt let it drop for me to be transfered to a local heart hospital to be given an angiogram and subsequent angioplasty. It was a high risk Atypical NSTEMI with full blockage and all everyone kept saying was "you dont look like yours having a heart attack, even though your bloods say you are"
If i knew women presented differently i would have absolutely sought help sooner. I assumed i would know if i was having a heart attack, i, 100%, did not! I didnt even call 999, i called 111 because i was annoyed that i couldnt sleep at 2am because of the weird pain in my chest and i wanted to speak to a nurse for advice. The first sign i had was my bra felt like it had shrunk and was tight when i put it on at 7am the morning before. I tell as many people i meet that i can to be aware that woman present differently to men, and not one has said they knew that already. We desperately need to see this more in the media.

I just want to show my support. On March 26, 2026 I suffered a cardiac arrest. Luckily I was with someone who called emergency services when I started exhibiting symptoms. It was such a scary event for me. I was able to saved and was placed in medically induced coma for 9 days. When I woke I was told what happened to me. I can't get anyone to tell me how long I was clinically on the "other side". It wasn't included in any of my paperwork or files. This event changed my outlook on life. I don't know why, but I looked up the statistics for survival rates. It was so sad. I started questioning why I survived when others I deemed "more important" than me didn't? I started questioning my purpose. Survivor’s guilt and ptsd are some lingering issues for me. I have panic attacks whenever I pass where it happened, I'm triggered by hearing "Flat lines" on television shows or movies. And every year around my anniversary of the event my body is in fight or flight mode. And memory loss and my mind drawing blanks on saying simple things. Like I'll look at a dog, then suddenly forget the word dog. I have to give clues like "4 legged creature that barks". But... there are a lot of positives. I get to be here longer. Also, as I'm clinically obese, I absolutely hated pictures. I thought they were embarrassing. My adult children decided to send me their favorite pictures of me and I was so surprised. They didn't care about my size, only that I was their mom and they had so many memories that included them. It was then I decided that I will take more pics and smile all the smiles that they had to secretly capture when they took pics without me knowing. I get more time with my husband. We had never married and didn't think it mattered. We had a big wedding. Our kids finally stopped bugging us about it. We've been together 30 years, married for 3. I'm no longer scared to try new things. I am fully embracing my new future. Wishing anyone going through this or have family who went through this, lots of love. 💜

I am glad you said this because I recently had a heart attack and none of the doctors I've seen explained that is more common in women to have a vasospasm. Also, I don't believe they treated my differently than a man, medication wise.

Posters, please please read the full thread - people are still confusing heart attack with cardiac arrest. Whilst a heart attack can lead to cardiac arrest (which is NOT flatline, but a chaotic rhythm which does not pump blood around the body - ventricular fibrillation - which needs a DEfibrillator to shock the heart still and hopefully recover into normal sinus) a heart attack presents in many, many ways - I ignored Dr Google for 4 days when it kept saying ‘Cardiac!!!’ As all I had was a weird achy feeling where neck glands are.

Being pedantic, but since your post is about being factually correct.

Heart attacks (myocardial infarctions) can send the heart into a whole range of arrhythmias (faulty heart rhythms - some fatal, some not), not just ventricular fibrillation, this depends on the area of the heart wall damaged by the heart attack and the corresponding part of the hearts conduction system (electric circuitary) that becomes affected.

So it is possible for the first arrest rhythm from a heart attack to be asystole (flat line) in some heart attacks that result in cardiac arrests (septal MI causing AV block). This is a non shockable rhythm.

Or for a heart attack to result in a PEA (pulseless electrical activity) arrest due to extensive damage to the left ventricular (the largest thickest part of the heart wall and the area responsible for pumping blood all around the body) resulting in heart failure and the accumulation of fluid in the lungs and peripheries, so whilst the heart attack causes the damage it doesn't actually stop firing out beats. This is a non shockable rhythm.

It is also possible to have cardiac arrests, that are cardiac in origin (caused by a primary problem in the heart) without having a heart attack before hand.

For example, sudden adult death syndrome arrhythmias. For example long qt syndrome - Where a delay in the conduction system (electric circuitary) makes the heart vulnerable to ventricular tachycardia and subsequently ventricular fibrillation when exposed to a shock (sudden cold water immersion, orgasm, boo shock) at just the wrong moment.