Barry mum saved by firefighters after ambulance delay

Nicola Clarke 45, suffered from a heart attack at her home in Dale Court last month on September 2.

Before she collapsed, Nicola and her neighbour managed to alert the emergency services and was told that an ambulance would be available within the next 5 hours.

Luckily, her neighbours were quick to react and attempted to drive her to the hospital.Nicola Clarke (Image: Nicola Clarke) Whilst driving one of Nicola’s neighbours spotted a parked fire engine in a layby near Barry Lidl. It was there that local fire fighters provided her with lifesaving oxygen for 20 minutes.

Nicola said: “I was a mum of 5, active, perfectly fit, with nothing wrong with me and then out of the blue I felt horrendous chest pains.

“By the time we reached Lidl in Barry and I’d gone grey and lost consciousness.”

Nicola continued: “The Barry firefighters pulled me out the car and they gave me oxygen for over 20 minutes on the roadside, they saved my life and if it wasn’t for them, I wouldn’t be here now.”

After supplying Nicola with the oxygen that saved her life the fire fighters then radioed for a police escort car to travel with Nicola’s neighbour to the hospital.

They even offered to pay for any speeding tickets gathered on the way.Fire Fighters (Image: NQ) Nicola said: “They took all our car details, and they said to my neighbour get her there as quickly and safely as you can

“They’ve not realised that they’ve saved my life, they don’t know the extent of it.”

Nicola is currently on bedrest and is still coming to terms with her new diagnosis she said: “I woke up in the cardiac intensive care unit and was very critical at the time I still have the life-threatening condition now that I’m trying to come to terms with.

“It’s a big trauma to wake up in the hospital in intensive care, I had two tears to the main artery of the heart so my heart can rupture at any time.”

Jon Edwards, Assistant Director of Operations (Resourcing and EMS Coordination) at the Welsh Ambulance Service, said: “We are deeply sorry to hear about Mrs Clark’s experience, which is a reflection of the sustained and well-documented pressures across the entire urgent and emergency care system.

“This is not the service we want to provide and are working hard with Welsh Government and Local Health Board colleagues to implement meaningful change."