On the evening of Monday, 12 February 2024, 17-year-old Jack Taylor had just arrived at East Leake Leisure Centre with friends to play basketball.
Minutes later, he collapsed, and it was identified that he was in cardiac arrest.
While one of his friends was on the phone to 999 requesting emergency help, off-duty British Red Cross First Aid Instructor Jamie Perridge sprang into action.
In addition to his full-time role at the British Red Cross, Jamie is also a first responder for Central Medical Services, a 24/7 private ambulance and medical service provider for both the NHS and private clients.
That evening, he was running the basketball club.
Jamie said: “I was on the other side of the sports hall, putting my trainers on, when I saw Jack fall to the ground out of the corner of my eye.
“I initially thought Jack had rolled his ankle when I went over to check on him, but as I got closer, I could see him starting to shake, and he was having a seizure.
“I instructed a friend to get a stopwatch to record the length of the seizures.”
Jamie then identified another person at the scene to act as a ‘runner’ to reception to inform them that emergency crews were coming so they could open a side gate for quick and immediate access to the site.
He added: “While Jack wasn’t in cardiac arrest at that stage, I asked a gym instructor to get the defibrillator we had on-site so we could be prepared to shock his heart if that happened.
“As she came back with the defibrillator, Jack started to turn blue. He had gone into cardiac arrest, so I performed cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) on his chest until the defibrillator advised us to give a shock.
“The leisure centre staff were amazing – they not only fetched the defibrillator but also helped deliver CPR and operate the defibrillator.
“I think we gave him eight shocks in total before the ambulance crew arrived.”
Jack and his family make the most of every moment following what happened.
As those on the scene did everything possible to give Jack a fighting chance of survival, EMAS received the 999 call in the control room.
Emergency Medical Advisor Clare Davis took the details from the caller, while Dispatcher Richard Skelton ensured the appropriate resources were sent to Jack in a timely manner.
Richard said: “As a dispatcher, I am familiar with the clinicians we had on shift. It was my job to strategically resource the right mix of skills that Jack required.
“The call for Jack was a Category 1 (immediately life-threatening), so I was looking to get the nearest appropriate crews to him as quickly as possible.
“As we got more information that Jack was in cardiac arrest, I knew we needed a multi-team response from EMAS and the Derbyshire, Leicestershire & Rutland Air Ambulance – operated by The Air Ambulance Service (TAAS).
“This consisted of a doctor, paramedics, a critical care paramedic, and a cardiac arrest lead, so we could manage Jack’s care properly when we arrived.”
The EMAS ambulance crew of Julia Jabrzyk and Adrian Rea had just handed over their previous patient at hospital when they received a call to attend to a patient in cardiac arrest, with bystander CPR already being performed at the scene.
Adrian said: “When we arrived, we managed Jack’s airway and continued to perform CPR.
“We were then joined by George Duffin and Mark Stephens from EMAS, and Tom Eckersley and Stephen Smith from the Derbyshire, Leicestershire & Rutland Air Ambulance Service (DLRAA), to coordinate advanced life support.
“Thanks to Jamie’s quick action when Jack’s cardiac arrest started, and our team working together to manage his condition, we were able to get his heart beating again.
“As a team, we decided the best course of action was to sedate Jack, place a tube in his airway to help him breathe, and take him to Glenfield Hospital in Leicester.
“The doctor from TAAS, who arrived on the scene in a critical care car, travelled with us in the ambulance to ensure we could continue to provide Jack with ongoing care on the way to hospital.”
Julia added: “The fact that the leisure centre had a defibrillator available, and that Jamie and others were willing to use it while doing chest compressions, made all the difference in saving Jack’s life before we could step in to help.”
While all this was happening, Jack’s mother, Andrea Cox, got the phone call every parent dreads.
Andrea said: “There are no words to describe that moment.
“No one at the scene with Jack had my number, so they phoned his girlfriend, and her mum then called Max, Jack’s twin brother, who spoke to me to break the news.
“They had given my number to the police, who stayed on the phone with me until two police officers turned up at our house in Arnold, who then swiftly took us to the hospital so we could be with Jack.
“When I saw him, he had all these pipes in him, and he was unconscious – it was a very scary moment to see your child like that.”
For several days, Jack was under the constant care of a team of specialists in the Intensive Therapy Unit at Glenfield. He remained critically ill and needed close monitoring, along with advanced medical support such as ventilators, intensive nursing, and a life-support machine.
Andrea added: “Jack’s lungs were filling up with blood, and he had a severe chest infection due to a damaged mitral heart valve.
“After nine days, he was transferred to Harefield Hospital in London, where a huge team was formed around his care.
“Instead of a heart transplant, he underwent a groundbreaking mitral valve repair – a completely unique procedure pioneered by his surgeon, Fabio de Robertis.
“Fabio told us that Jack had a rare condition called hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, a genetic disease where the heart muscles become thickened.
“Jack had an 8% chance of survival and a 2% chance of keeping his own heart.”
Despite spending months at Harefield, including his 18th birthday, Jack beat both those odds and is back home, even working a part-time job.
He has an implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD) fitted. The ICD is a small, battery-powered device that monitors and regulates Jack’s heart rhythm and delivers electrical pulses to correct any abnormalities. If needed in the future, it can also send a larger electrical shock to his heart to “reboot” it and restore a normal rhythm.
Looking to the future, Jack will commence studying Software Engineering at Nottingham Trent University from September.
Speaking about this next chapter in his life, Jack said: “I’m really excited because it’s a subject I’ve always wanted to study, but I’m worried about my memory.”
Due to the cardiac arrest, Jack sustained a hypoxic brain injury, which affects his short-term memory. He is undergoing neurological rehabilitation at Queen’s Medical Centre in Nottingham.
Jack continued: “Still, if I enjoy it, I think it’ll be a great challenge. The exam board even gave me a letter of recognition to show what A Level results they think I’d have got, based on my academic progress before my cardiac arrest, which ensured I got my place at university.”
