Personal trainer, 43, saved by partner when heart stopped on dog walk
A superfit personal trainer almost died from a sudden cardiac arrest just yards from her front door while walking her dog - but her partner saved her life with CPR. Emma Houldsworth, 43, had been on a dog walk on April 26 for less than 10 minutes when she had to sit down on the pavement because she felt tired.
The personal trainer says she then 'blacked out' and stopped breathing. Her partner Paul Tilley, who completed first aid training during his previous job as a bouncer, acted quickly to perform CPR - breaking three of Emma's ribs in the process.
The 43-year-old says she was 'lucky' that a number of passersby also stepped in to help save her life, including an off-duty nurse and a man who ran to fetch a defibrillator. The nurse took over and began performing CPR, while another member of the public took the couple's eight-year-old pug, Pedro.
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An ambulance crew arrived at the scene and after being shocked with the defibrillator three times, Emma's heart started beating again. The mum-of-two was rushed to Leeds General Infirmary where she was placed in intensive care.
Emma, who describes herself as 'really fit and healthy', believes that working long hours and feeling stressed may have contributed to the sudden cardiac arrest. She was discharged from hospital on May 10 and has had an implantable cardioverter defibrillator fitted in order to help her heart beat at a normal rhythm and hopefully prevent another cardiac arrest in the future.
She is 'grateful' that her partner knew CPR - and says it could have been a very different ending if he hadn't acted so quickly. Emma from Leeds, West Yorkshire, said: "It turned into the dog walk from hell.
"Luckily my partner knows CPR so he pulled me away from the wall and started chest compressions. He still had the dog, so he was trying to get him in between his legs. "He started shouting and then there was an off-duty nurse who was passing. She took over the CPR, somebody else came over and took the dog and another person ran to fetch the defibrillator from the working men's club up the road. "An ambulance came and they were trying to keep me alive at the side of the road.
"It's just great that my partner acted so quickly and that he knew CPR because if he didn't then I wouldn't be here now. "Without all of those people working together it would have been a very different story. Sometimes we'll go hiking in the mountains where we're far away from people so luckily we were in the street just up from where we live and there were plenty of people around. "I'm just so grateful. It's like it was meant to be that that nurse was passing at the time.
"There are lots of circumstances where things could have been really different - it's just really lucky that things happened in the way that they did on that day." Emma was blue-lighted to Leeds General Infirmary where she was placed in intensive care for three nights.
She says she is generally 'fit and healthy' and the only symptoms she experienced in the days before the cardiac arrest were tiredness and 'feeling run down'. Emma said: "I'm really healthy, I really look after myself. I eat really well and exercise regularly. I work a lot of hours so I think that contributed [to the cardiac arrest]. "I often work 13-hour days and I'm quite stressed a lot of the time. I wasn't prioritising my own self care - all of things that I encourage my clients to do.
"In the days beforehand I was feeling pretty run down and tired but I didn't listen to my body and just pushed through it. "They were the only kind of warning signs that things weren't right."
The mum-of-two now wants to reduce her working hours and focus on prioritising her health. She is keen to raise awareness that cardiac arrest can happen to people at any age - no matter how fit and healthy they are - and is encouraging people to listen to their bodies if they feel that something might be wrong.
Emma said: "I want to work less hours and concentrate on making sure that I'm getting enough rest. "I also want to concentrate on my training, getting out on walks, going to yoga and spending time with the people I love - all of the things that I enjoy.
"This experience has definitely shifted by priorities. "It's taught me that you can't just brush things off when you're busy, or try and push through when you're run down.
"It's about listening to your body. If something's feeling off then it probably is so it's about prioritising yourself and not just looking after other people the other time and making sure you're looking after yourself. "I always thought that when people have heart problems that it just affected old people or that it was from years of smoking and drinking or not looking after themselves.
"I love walking and hiking and training. I eat well and I do look after myself so I never thought that anything like that would happen to me."
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