Pool staff save Huddersfield man's life after swimming heart attack

Dec 7 2009 Huddersfield Daily Examiner

A TRIATHLETE’S life was saved by lifeguards when he suffered heart failure while going for a lunchtime swim.

Super-fit Andrew Blanshard from Denby Dale has competed all over the world but had no idea he was suffering from a potentially lethal heart condition.

And the dramatic events at the swimming pool may have ended his triathlete career – but his life was saved by a defibrillator and as a result of his close shave with his death, defibrillators will now be installed at pools across Kirklees.

Andrew, 59, of Royds Park, Denby Dale, said: “I am really grateful for their swift and very skilful action.

“I had lost consciousness and was sinking fast in the water. Without a doubt I would have died if it hadn’t been for them.”

Andrew was on a course learning how to teach swimming at Ponds Forge International Sports Centre in Sheffield when the incident happened.

He said: “During the lunch-time break I went for a swim and the next thing I knew I woke up hospital two days later.

“I just blacked out and went down in the water. I later found out that I had a heart condition and this could have happened at any time.”

Andrew was fit and healthy and had competing for years in triathlons around the world.

A triathlon is a multi-sport endurance event consisting of swimming, cycling, and running in immediate succession over various distances.

Keen cyclist Andrew was totally unaware that he was suffering from a hereditary heart condition that had gone undiagnosed.

The condition, which affects the muscle and electrical activity of the heart, could gave caused Andrew’s heart to fail any time over the last 20 years.

Andrew was pulled from the water by lifeguards who spotted that he had lost consciousness.

They performed life-saving resuscitation on the business consultant using a defibrillator when they discovered he had stopped breathing.

Defibrillators provide electric shock therapy to restart the heart.

Each year around a third of heart attack sufferers die before reaching hospital, but using the equipment can increase their chances of survival by more than a third.

Andrew is now recovering at home after spending 10 nights on the coronary care unit at Sheffield’s Northern General Hospital.