We thought Dad was just dehydrated when he collapsed in the garden and ‘died' – then the unbelievable happened
It had been a long day, with the 64-year-old digging at concrete from 9am. Then at 4pm, tragedy struck when, to the horror of his panic-stricken family, Steve collapsed and turned blue.
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Daughter Kate, 29, from Colchester, Essex, says: 'I was watching out of the window and he looked quite unwell.
'I ran outside and he started having a seizure so my husband phoned the ambulance.
'I was panicking. It was horrific, and there are no words to explain how scary it is.
'Dad sat up, pointed at me and said he was alright, then had another seizure.
'He went completely blue from the chest up, including his head and ears.
'My brother [Sam, 40] gave him CPR. He's had no medical training, he's just seen it in films and he went for it.'
Kate and mum Lindy, 65, an accountant assistant, knelt down and prayed - despite not being religious - as Sam continued CPR until paramedics arrived eight minutes later.
Kate says: 'I broke down. It was the longest eight minutes of our lives. It was insane.
'I was saying to my husband, 'We've done this, we've killed him.''
Steve had suffered a cardiac arrest, which is when the heart suddenly stops. As blood stops pumping around the body, vital organs are starved of oxygen.
It usually happens without warning - a person usually collapses suddenly, unresponsive and unconscious.
Kate says: 'A seizure isn't the first thing you think of when someone is having a heart issue.
'We thought he was dehydrated or had worked too hard. He was also doing agonal breathing, which is long drawn out breaths, but we didn't know that's not actually breathing.'
A cardiac arrest needs immediate treatment (CPR). Because the heart has stopped, the person is effectively dead until circulation and breathing can be restored.
Until then, CPR helps keep the blood pumping around the body.
Kate says: 'He died for 45 minutes and had to be shocked six times."
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At the hospital, doctors confirmed Steve had suffered a cardiac arrest. They explained his heart was very enlarged and was unlikely to back down to normal size.
He was put in a coma and medics warned he only had a two per cent chance of survival and that if he did wake up, he'd likely be brain damaged due to lack of oxygen.
Kate says: 'I screamed, 'You're wrong, you don't know my dad'. I was furious that this man said he wouldn't survive.
'I had to call my sister and say, 'Dad's dead'. We were sure he was gone and I can't describe how it felt. There isn't a single pain like it.
'I've never had a loss and my dad truly is my best friend in the world.'
Family's goodbyes
On the doctor's advice, his children and siblings gathered at his bedside to say their goodbyes.
"You can't comprehend how painful it is until it happens to you," says Kate.
'We grieved him. He looked dead and he was cold. We tried to talk to him and said we loved him, we were proud of him and asked him to come back.
'That night was the worst of our entire lives. Me and my mum held each other and took it in turns to cry.
'She didn't want to go back to the house without him. She froze over, she was beside herself because she'd lost her husband.
'We were waiting for a phone call saying we needed to go to the hospital and every time the phone went, our hearts sank.'
Why does cardiac arrest occur?
A cardiac arrest is when your heart suddenly stops pumping blood around your body.
It is caused by a dangerous abnormal heart rhythm (arrhythmia), which happens when the electrical system in the heart isn't working properly, the British Heart Foundation says.
"Not all abnormal heart rhythms are life-threatening, but some mean that the heart cannot pump blood around the body," the charity explains.
Ventricular fibrillation (VF) is an example of a dangerous heart rhythm that can lead to a cardiac arrest.
This is when the heart quivers or 'fibrillates' instead of pumps.
Some conditions can cause abnormal heart rhythms and in turn, a cardiac arrest if they're severe or left untreated:
cardiomyopathies (disease of the heart muscle) and inherited heart conditions which affect the electrical system of the heart, such as Brugada syndrome
congenital heart disease – a heart condition or defect you get before you're born
heart valve disease – when one or more of your heart valves don't work properly
severe or untreated myocarditis - inflammation of the heart muscle.
Other causes of cardiac arrest include a heart attack, a severe haemorrhage (losing a large amount of blood), a drop in oxygen levels or a drug overdose.
Source: British Heart Foundation
But the family would receive a phone call the next morning that would change everything.
The unbelievable had happened - Steve, a manufacturing company director, was trying to wake up.
The mum and daughter rushed to the hospital and doctors decided to try to bring him out of his coma.
I died for 45 minutes, they got all the family to say goodbye to me. It's awful and devastating.
Steve
Kate says: 'They reduced his sedation and literally as she pressed the button, his eyes pinged open. I asked him if he knew who I was and he nodded. It was unreal.
'He was put back into a coma because he became unwell again. The day after, we got a phone call from the hospital and the nurse's voice sounded negative.
'Then she said 'hold on' and the next voice was my dad's saying hello to my mum. We jumped up and down. We were so overwhelmed.
'We went to see him and he was sat up, no breathing tube, and no ounce of brain damage.'
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Steve was talking just two days after the ordeal.
He says: 'The last thing I remember is being in the garden, then I woke up two-and-a-half days later.
'Sam is my hero - I'll have to put his pocket money up because if he wasn't there, the outcome would be very different now.
'I was in a coma but then I came to and there was a bit of euphoria because you've survived.
'I died for 45 minutes, they got all the family to say goodbye to me. It's awful and devastating.'
Steve spent two weeks in hospital and has had an implantable cardioverter-defibrillator fitted under the skin in the chest.
The electrical device may be fitted if someone has had a cardiac arrest before, or they have a heart condition that can cause an arrhythmia.
Doctors do not know why Steve had a cardiac arrest, however.
Amazingly, he was back at work just one week after being discharged.
He says: 'I'm not someone who dwells on things so after a week I was ready to go and carry on.
'I feel lucky to be here. I have to be around. I've got seven children and 17 grandchildren. I can't afford to go.'
Kate threw a 'recovery' party for her 'best friend and hero' dad, saying: 'He's brilliant. Dad is so grateful to be here and has a whole new lease of life.
'He says 'I died' and he felt so guilty that he put us through that but obviously, we don't blame him.'
The family have set up a fundraising page for SCA UK, a peer support organisation dedicated to helping improve the lives of those who survive a cardiac arrest.
They also want to help raise awareness of the early signs of a cardiac arrest.
Kate says: 'It's really important to know the early signs of cardiac arrest and when CPR is needed.'
Steve adds: 'Knowing CPR and when to respond quickly can save so many lives.
'Everything happened quickly for me. Sam acted quickly, the paramedics were there quickly and the doctors and nurses were incredible.'
* You can donate to Kate's fundraisier for Sudden Cardiac Arrest UK here.
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