Wigan man thanks gym staff for saving his life

Paul Sutton, 59, fell to the floor after a 5km run at Robin Park Leisure Centre in April.

Quickly spotting the signs of cardiac arrest, instructors performed three rounds of CPR and administered one shock with a defibrillator – earning the praise of paramedics who rushed Paul to Manchester Royal Infirmary for surgery.

Happily, he survived and, three months on, he returned to the gym to thank staff for saving his life.

Paul, a self-employed electrician who lives in Wrightington with wife Debbie, said: “I’d just finished running a 5k and pressed the ‘cool down’ button – and that’s when it all went wrong.

“I just felt a little bit dizzy, and then the next thing I know Gus – one of the instructors – is knelt over me asking, ‘do you know where you are?’ At first, I thought, ‘am I dreaming?’

“He explained I’d had a cardiac arrest. I actually wanted to get back up, I was quite embarrassed, but he said, ‘no, stay where you are, we’ve got paramedics coming’, and he put me in the recovery position.”

Ambulance and air ambulance teams arrived within minutes and Paul was taken to hospital.

He said: “The doctor was full of praise for the staff and said if it wasn’t for their quick thinking, I wouldn’t be here.

“So I’m incredibly grateful to them. I feel really good now and it’s nice to come back and see everybody again.”

Fitness instructor Gus O’Donnell, who delivered CPR with colleagues Darren Bibby, Declan Goodfellow, Daniel Hardman and Chris Rigby, is a former rugby league player for Wigan and St Helens.

He said: “I’d just turned my back on Paul when I heard a big thud. I thought he was dead; he wasn’t breathing, his lips and ears had gone blue.

“When something like that happens you just go into autopilot.

"I hit the panic alarm and, credit to the staff, we all worked well as a team and it was amazing how quickly we did it.

"It’s great to see Paul back again.”

Paul was fitted with four stents and a defibrillator.

He has continued his recovery at Robin Park with a weekly NHS cardiac rehab class, delivered as part of Be Well’s partnership with healthcare providers.

He hopes to be back in the gym soon to resume his fitness journey, having lost two-and-a-half stones before the incident through exercise and changes to his diet.

Paul said: “I’d been coming to the gym since February after a high blood pressure scare and I’d gone from 17st 8lb to 15 stone – although I’ve put a bit of that back on now.

“I did ask the doctor whether I could have been overdoing it at the gym and if that could have caused the heart attack and they said no, it was just one of those things and I was lucky I was here when it happened.

“The staff here are absolutely fantastic, they really give you the motivation you need. They also have people coming with special needs and they really get the best out of them, so I think with some one-to-one support I can get back to where I was.”

Coun Chris Ready, Wigan Council’s cabinet portfolio holder for communities and neighbourhoods, said: “We give all our Be Well instructors the training they need to know what to do in the event of a medical emergency, but nothing can truly prepare you for the pressure of a real-life situation when somebody’s life is on the line.

“Paul simply wouldn’t be here today without the team’s quick and calm response – so I want to say a massive thank you to them for their actions. They really are heroes!”