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Montreal family meets Good Samaritans who delivered life-saving CPR to 87-year-old man
Montreal family meets Good Samaritans who delivered life-saving CPR to 87-year-old man

CBC

time3 days ago

  • General
  • CBC

Montreal family meets Good Samaritans who delivered life-saving CPR to 87-year-old man

When 87-year-old Sabato Borrelli went into cardiac arrest May 15, a group of strangers stepped in to help. After reading about Borrelli's recovery, one of them reached out to CBC. Gloria Borrelli and her mother Francesca choked back tears as they took turns hugging and kissing Mikhael Esterez on the cheek, repeating the words "thank you" over and over again outside Montreal's Sacré-Coeur hospital. After more than a week of searching for the Good Samaritans who delivered life-saving CPR to Gloria's dad, 87-year-old Sabato Borrelli, the mother and daughter finally met Esterez and another woman who played a key role that day, but who wanted to keep her identity private. Borrelli had collapsed after going into cardiac arrest while out on his daily walk on May 15 near Jarry Park. "You guys are superheroes for us," Gloria told them. On Monday, the two strangers met Borrelli inside his hospital room where he continues to recover from the ordeal. He managed to wave and say thank you "many times," he said. Esterez reached out to CBC after reading about Borrelli 's recovery and the family's search for the Good Samaritan who saved him. But he insisted CBC also find the woman at the scene who was the first to call 911 and begin compressions that day. "I'm super happy that they have more time with somebody that's important to them," he said. "We all have people we care for and sometimes we kind of wish we could have more time with them." Mikhael Esterez, left, met Sabato Borrelli's granddaughter, Vanessa Caporicci, right, among some of his other family members Monday. (Paula Dayan-Perez/CBC) Borrelli turned 87 the day he awoke at the hospital on May 17. Coincidentally, that same day, Esterez turned 35, wondering what had become of the man he helped a couple days prior. He had pulled into the parking lot of his daughter's daycare around 3 p.m. when he saw Borrelli lying on the ground, a woman on the phone near him. The 911 operator asked if there were any defibrillators nearby. Esterez went into the daycare hoping to find one but there was none. By that point, the woman had already started giving Borrelli chest compressions to the pace set by the 911 operator over the phone. Feeling some strain in her wrists, she let Esterez take over after a few minutes. "He has these very intense blue eyes and I remember looking down on him while doing the compressions and he was staring at me so I really hoped I would see him like I did today, alive with life in his eyes because I feared they would kind of haunt me for a little while," he said. Francesca Borrelli said the young age of the two people that helped save her husband's life touched her and she felt grateful for them. (Paula Dayan-Perez/CBC) Esterez kept going until a first paramedic arrived in an SUV equipped with a defibrillator at 3:15 p.m., according to Urgences-santé's log. The paramedic shocked Borrelli and asked a second unidentified man to take over chest compressions for a bit, said Esterez. Five minutes later, at 3:20 p.m., the ambulance arrived and Borrelli was rushed to hospital. "You're just left there and you don't know if you did good or if the person is still alive," said Esterez. Urgences-santé spokesperson Jean-Pierre Rouleau says they were receiving a high volume of calls that day, which is why the ambulance took as long as it did. The original dispatch was received at 3:02 p.m. Over the last 30 days, Urgences-santé's ambulances have arrived at the scene of a high-priority call within 8 minutes and 50 seconds, says Rouleau. "There's days, unfortunately, when the demand exceeds supply and, well, it's more difficult to respond as quickly as we would like," he said. "We would always like to have more resources but it's linked to budgets." Esterez noted that 18 minutes was a long time, thinking that traffic had something to do with the delay. For him, the lessons of that day are pretty clear: "People should learn CPR and get out of the way [for] the ambulance," he said.

'My husband shouldn't have died from a heart attack at 48'
'My husband shouldn't have died from a heart attack at 48'

Yahoo

time5 days ago

  • Health
  • Yahoo

'My husband shouldn't have died from a heart attack at 48'

The widow of a police officer who died of a heart attack aged 48 said there was "no reason" why he should have succumbed to an unknown cardiac defect. Craig Higgins, from Sowerby Bridge, in West Yorkshire, was on duty with Greater Manchester Police when he collapsed in 2022. According to the British Heart Foundation (BHF), there has been a 23% increase in the number of 20-64-year-olds dying of heart and circulatory diseases in Yorkshire since 2019. Senior cardiac nurse Julie Ward said: "It is significant, the figures are quite shocking. It's a very complex situation, there isn't one factor that's caused it. It's multi-factor." Dawn Higgins said her husband and the father of her two children appeared fit and healthy and took regular exercise, but had developed a thickening of the heart wall, which made it more difficult for the organ to pump blood around the body. "He ran a bit, walked his dog every day, didn't have an unhealthy lifestyle. He didn't smoke or drink excessively, was not overweight. Statistically, there was no reason why he should have died." Research by the BHF also found that in Yorkshire and the Humber there had been a 17% rise in the number of people diagnosed with heart failure in recent years, from 59,320 in 2020 to 69,190. Another woman who lost her seemingly healthy and active partner is Melissa Antons, whose fiancé, Joe Banks, from Holmfirth, died aged 32 from a cardiac arrest caused by an aortic aneurysm while competing in a half-marathon in Austria last September. "He was wearing a Garmin watch on the day of the run with his heart rate on it. It all seemed fine, he was living a very healthy life. There were no indications really." According to the BHF data, there has been an 11% rise in the number of adults diagnosed with diabetes, a major risk factor for cardiovascular disease. Melissa said she would like to see more routine screening for heart disease. "Unfortunately you only notice when it's too late, especially with young people. There's a big need for earlier diagnosis." She thinks screening should begin at the age of 30 to look at how the heart reacts to different tests, such a cycling or running. Her sentiments are echoed by Dawn. "Something that's occurred to me recently is perhaps there should be more routine testing. I don't know what age or criteria you'd have to be," she said. "For example, we've got two sons and their dad has died unexpectedly of an undiagnosed condition. They've not been tested, surely there should be some screening." The Department for Health has been approached for comment. Listen to highlights from West Yorkshire on BBC Sounds, catch up with the latest episode of Look North. Anger, tears and joy after a heart attack at 22 Screening to reduce cardiac arrests in young people British Heart Foundation

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