Businessman Tony Entwistle recalls the day that quick thinking and a defibrillator saved his life and calls for all businesses to consider installing the life-saving device on their premises.
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PLAYING FOOTBALL with friends, Tony Entwistle suddenly felt dizzy. His legs buckled from underneath him. He collapsed, having suffered a cardiac arrest. “I was actually dead,” he says.
Calls for help from his friends brought Elliott Holmes, general manager at the GOALS sports complex in Northampton where Tony was playing, to the scene.
Grabbing the centre’s defibrillator, Elliott raced to the scene. Already administering critical CPR was former fireman Ryan Grant, who was playing football on a pitch nearby. Between them, they managed to restart Tony’s heart.
“Thankfully Elliott was working that day and when he and Ryan quickly realised CPR was not restarting my heart Elliott, who had previously had training, knew it was time to use the defibrillator,” says Tony, co-owner of Northampton-based construction project management consultancy Fed3 Projects. “Elliott managed to restart my heart using the device and they continued CPR until the ambulance crew arrived.”
Main picture: Tony Entwistle (left) with Elliott Holmes (right) and Samuel Scott, sales director at Panther Logistics which has installed a defibrillator at all the company’s UK premises as a result of Tony’s story.
Tony has since stopped playing football but now coaches youth teams and still enjoys an active lifestyle. He and Elliott are firm friends.
“On the day it happened, a call went out for a doctor as someone had collapsed on pitch. Just the day before I had refreshed my first aid training, including using a defibrillator and I took our onsite device with me when I rushed to the scene,” Elliott recalls.
“Tony was unconscious and not breathing. Ryan arrived to support me administering CPR. I was determined and due to my GOALS training I knew what I had to do.”
The story arose during a conversation between Elliott and his long-time friend Samuel Scott, sales director at distribution company Panther Logistics, which has a depot in Northampton. The benefit of having the defibrillator on site immediately inspired Samuel and his managing director Gary McKelvey to install defibrillators at every Panther Logistics premises around the UK.
Panther depots join a nationwide network of defibrillators that not only protect colleagues on site but also are accessible to all emergency medical crews if required in the towns and cities where Panther’s businesses are based. Already 24 Panther employees have undergone specialist training in how to use the devices.
“When Elliott told myself and Gary how he had been able to help save Tony’s life by using a defibrillator, we knew immediately we had to have the devices in situ at all our sites,” says Samuel. He urges other businesses to consider installing a defibrillator.
Grateful Tony nominated Elliott and Ryan for British Heart Foundation Awards to recognise their courage and quick thinking that saved his life. “Elliott and Ryan are my heart heroes,” he says.
“Having heard about my personal story, I think it is fantastic that Panther has installed defibrillators at all of the company’s depots. More than 30,000 people in the UK suffer cardiac arrests every year and if you are not near a defibrillator your chances of survival are tiny.
“I was lucky – I was in the right place at the right time.”
