(Interviewer) And what did you feel like when they came to you and said you can go home now?
(Interviewer) Did you have your ICD fitted in hospital before you left?
No so you went home without?
(Interviewer) We'll come back to that one! I think the fact that you came back the
ICD's importance it will maybe because I think that people who've gone home with ICD's
feel very safe.Then if you don't have one perhaps its?
(Interviewer) Did you worry when you went home at first, did you worry about your
heart, did you worry about?
(Interviewer) But you didn't have any cardiac
rehabilitation formally did you? You weren't offered that?
(Katie) You had a district nurse that came in and saw you
quite often - didn't you though?
(Interviewer) What did it feel like for you Katie?
(Katie) Well I'll never forget actually the day after he
came home. We came home first of all via his father actually that was that was
that was the first of the celebrations. Because dad thought
he would never see his son walk through the back door again. But then the
following day Keith and I walked up to get ourselves a newspaper in the morning
and he's very very friendly with two men from work and I
have never seen such broad smiles on these two mens faces they
never thought they would see Keith back in Huntly again. It really was.
(Interviewer) I mean
when you're at home with Keith had anything changed with the way?
(Katie) Absolutely no no no we just carried on life just like what it
was before as if nothing had happened.
I mean what was the point there was no point pussyfooting with him.
I went back to work as usual. I knew there was an old lady well
she's not that old but she's the lady that lived next door who was at home the
whole time. So she came she used to pop in whilst I was at work
just to see if Keith was alright. Otherwise Keith was just left to his own devices
and Keith's just got on with life as normally as he could.
(Interviewer) So we talked about driving and things Keith. Does your work involve driving?
(Interviewer) When did you actually go back to work?
How long were you off work?
(Katie) About 6 months you were off work.
(Interviewer) Okay so you went back a couple of days at a time?
(Interviewer) So tell me about the ICD then.
Why did they suddenly decide after a year to give you an ICD?
(Interviewer) But they didn't say why they waited a year to to do that?
(Interviewer) Does it make you feel safer? It doesn't bother you?
(Interviewer) Is it a subcutaneous one?
(Interviewer) So it hasn't affected you at all?
(Interviewer) That's good. But its never kicked in?
(Interviewer) I think you might know!
(Interviewer) The other thing I want to speak about. I mean you've come through this relatively I hate to say it but
unscathed. I think you've been incredibly strong about the way you've dealt with the whole
thing. But you also both now gone on to do something afterwards could you tell
us about that?
(Katie) It was in the local paper at one of the clubs I belong
to. The Sandpiper trust had come to give us a talk. And the Sandpiper trust
was set up on the back of the death of a young child out in Canada. And
they were in a fairly rural part of Canada visiting relatives. The poor
child drowned but he was pulled out of the water
but there wasn't any emergency services close by and if there
had been the child would have been saved. So on the back of that the aunt came back
and set up this thing called the Sandpiper trust to look at ruling out
emergency responses in rural areas in Scotland. Aberdeenshire has been the first
area she's targeted. On the back of the Sandpiper trust per say they have now rolled
out this thing called the Wildcat project whereby
local professional and lay people like ourselves are being trained to work as
cardiac responders. So therefore we can now go out and carry out CPR on
individuals as and where
necessary. So we are now sitting at home with an awful lot of equipment in our house.
Because we actually do have a cardiac defibrillator
sitting in the house along with a whole rucksack of
bits and bobs so we can be called out at any time.
(Interviewer) And when I was up Keith you were talking about how you were a wee bit concerned about
what was going to be like giving CPR knowing that you yourself had been.
(Interviewer) I'm sure it will be quite strange the first time you do it. Did you think of it, I mean you obviously
felt it was important to give something back to the community based on your own experiences?
(Katie) That's one of the reasons why we agreed to come down and do this today.
Because I think it is so important that people who have either
like Keith who have who have gone through the awful procedure. Yes it is
horrid for them but I think it's even worse for the actual family and the spouses.
Because the likes of Keith he's lying there you know he's being well
looked after he's got this medical staff medical teams running round about
him. But sometimes the poor relatives well they're not left in the dark but it
is difficult for them because they can see exactly what's going on and is he
going to pull through. I mean I didn't sleep for the whole three weeks
Keith was in hospital properly I was
wondering whether he was going to come back. So yes
whilst it's awful for the actual victim if you like I think it's even
worse for the relative. All I can say is if you get
the medical staff to support you and you get the help around about you
it isn't a horrid process. You can get through it. But you
just have to you know I suppose it's like any
health board whether you know you've got the staff there or not to sort of
rally round the relatives as well as the actual patients.
(Interviewer) I believe Keith you are now a
star in your own right in your local community am I right?
(Interviewer) You didn't actually tell anybody in your
class that you had had a cardiac arrest?
(Interviewer) Did they know beforehand that you had survived?
(Katie) Yes no they did know
the reason they knew that because the colleague who Keith works
with he was working as an ambulance technician at the time.
What's so ironic actually five minutes later if Keith had his cardiac
arrest it would have been Keith's colleague who'd
have come and picked him up. So ironic no but he did
tell the girls that so they did know. But they said
that they had never met anybody who they have saved before.
(Interviewer) That must have been nice for them actually.
(Katie) It was actually.
(Interviewer) It must be quite nice for you to meet the paramedics?