Centre staff kept me alive
A heart-attack victim who collapsed during a gym session has spoken of his gratitude after becoming the second generation of his family to have their life saved by two generations of another.
Mr George Barrett, 67, collapsed at the Dukeries Leisure Centre, Ollerton, and was kept alive by the fast response of staff Mr Greg O’Regan and Mr Owen Nicks.
Mr O’Regan administered CPR while Mr Nicks used a defibrillator to restart Mr Barrett’s heart.
Twenty years ago Mr Barrett’s granddaughter, Kirsty Ward, of Edwinstowe, was saved from drowning by Mr O’Regan’s father, Shaun, after she fell into the River Maun as a toddler.
Mr O’Regan found her floating face down and jumped into the river, hauled her out and gave her mouth-to-mouth resuscitation.
Mr Barrett, of Alder Grove, Ollerton, said: “I am eternally grateful to Greg and Owen for what they have done. They saved my life.
“I have been to the leisure centre and left them a card but I want to go and see them and I hope to do something to show my appreciation.
“It is an incredible twist with Shaun having saved Kirsty as well. It is two generations saved by two generations.
“Greg did break one of my ribs when he was giving me CPR though. I’ll have to get him back when I’m better.”
Mr O’Regan, of Ollerton, said he knew something was seriously wrong as soon as he was alerted.
“He was laid in the recovery position when I got there. He was blue in the face and there were no signs of life,” he said.
“He’d told someone else in the gym that he was feeling faint, and collapsed as he went to sit down.”
Mr Barrett, who was going to the gym on a medical referral, was taken to Lincoln County Hospital by air ambulance where he underwent heart surgery.
He has had three stents and a defibrillator fitted and is at home recovering. He has no recollection of the incident itself.
“I can’t even remember going to the gym — I had to go and ask them what happened,” he said.
“Apparently I finished on one of the machines and collapsed backwards when I went to sit on a bench, and everybody started running about.
“My heart went into a rhythm where it was beating and quivering like a jelly. The next thing I knew I was in the hospital
