THE FAMILY OF an 85-year-old man who was given life-saving treatment after collapsing at Dublin Airport are asking for help in tracing a Good Samaritan.
Earlier this week, TheJournal.ie reported that 19 lives had been saved at Dublin Airport since the introduction of on-site defibrillators there ten years ago.
One of those people who survived a cardiac arrest thanks to speedy intervention was 85-year-old Jack Healy. He collapsed outside Terminal 2 last September as he was on his way to a holiday in Sorrento, Italy.
A team of Dublin Airport Police and Fire Service personnel (APFS) attended to Jack within minutes and he has now made what his family have described as a “truly miraculous recovery”. He and his family recently made a return visit to Dublin Airport to make a presentation to the “marvellous” APFS crew in recognition of their lifesaving efforts.
Jack’s daughter Claire Albrecht has been in touch with TheJournal.ie to say that there is still one person the family have to thank for her father’s survival – and she is hoping TheJournal.ie‘s readers may be able to help. She says:
There is still one small gap in the story of his airport incident and we would really like to find out who initially started CPR on our father.
It turns out that Jack’s collapse was first spotted by a fellow passenger who administered the first phase of CPR. Claire explains:
This person administered CPR and started the chain of events which ultimately saved my father’s life and gave him back to us. They (the APFS crew) told us about this wonderful Good Samaritan and we would like to find out who she is.All we know is that she is a nurse from America and that she continued on her way after through the airport (?) handing over CPR to the on-scene paramedics.
This is where your readers may be able to help me. She must have spoken about this incident when and if she returned to America or to her family/friends in Ireland. Somebody out there may know who she is. I would be so grateful to be able to find out who my father’s Good Samaritan is…
So there you have it: If you know a nurse, from America, who was either arriving or departing from Dublin Airport in the early hours of Sunday, 2 September, perhaps you could alert them to this article.
If you have information relating to the Good Samaritan – or if, indeed, it is you, email Claire.Albrecht@nuim.ie or email the author below who will pass on all correspondence.
As a happy endnote, Claire tells us that her father is now back at home. He spent two months in hospital from the day of his collapse, then spent a month in Claire’s home before finally getting back to his own home on 2 December – three months exactly to the day since he had set out for Dublin Airport. Claire says:
He is doing very well and is nearly as independent as he was before his cardiac arrest. He now also has his very own implanted defibrillator – an ICD (internal cardioverter defibrillator). The cardiologist in Beaumont Hospital calls him his ‘miracle man’ because of the truly miraculous recovery that he made.
(Main pic: Front row, l-r, Jack Healy, Claire Albrecht (daughter), John Healy (son); Second row, Siobhán Albrecht (granddaughter), Tony Shannon (APFS), Joanne Healy (daughter-in-law), Niamh Healy (granddaughter), Brendan Albrecht (grandson); Back row, Connor Healy (grandson), Paul Healy (son), Keith Pedreschi (APFS), Ciaran Curran (APFS) and Bart Cunningham (APFS).)
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