AN IRISHMAN who helped to save a London mother-of-four’s life has been commended for his actions.
Medicine student John Reidy, 27, from Ashbourne in Co. Meath, performed CPR on Francita Farrell - who had collapsed on the street - for six minutes until an emergency response team arrived.
Thanks to Mr Reidy’s quick-thinking actions, and the work of paramedics who attended the scene, the 32-year-old suffered no brain damage despite a lack of oxygen being pumped to her brain during the cardiac arrest.
“I had never done CPR in a real-life situation before, but I guess I just switched into autopilot mode at that point and took over doing the chest compressions straight away,” the Queen Mary University of London student revealed.
“There was no time to waste, and all I could think about was that I had to focus 110 per cent on doing good CPR because this person’s life depended on it.”
Mr Reidy's efforts have been commended by both London’s Air Ambulance and the Barts Health NHS Trust, who claim they saved the woman’s life.
His heroic moment was featured on BBC 2’s An Hour to Save Your Life last night (June 16).
Dr Gareth Davies, London’s Air Ambulance medical director and consultant in emergency medicine at Barts Health NHS Trust, said: “Un-witnessed cardiac arrest has one of the poorest survival rates. The facts would have been unclear but John immediately committed to giving Francita good quality CPR.”
“Quite simply, this saved Francita’s life,” he added.
