Today’s R2S: Woman Performs CPR On Husband For 30 Minutes

Geraldine O'Reilly Bolger, a nurse from Dublin Ireland, was in bed with her husband when she noticed his shallow breathing. She could tell from the signs that her husband was going into cardiac arrest and immediately dialed 999 (their version of 911). After administering CPR for 30 minutes the paramedics arrived and took over.

She was waiting downstairs when a medic came down and said they shocked Derek nine times, given him adrenaline and other drugs and that they had 'done everything'. It dawned on her that they were stopping. So she pointed up the stairs and said 'well get back up there and keep going. So he resumed his work and after 15 more minutes he returned to inform her his heart began pumping again.

He was then taken to the hospital and after 2 days he woke up and was taken off life support. After a week in the Cardiac Care Unit he was able to return home completely fine. Experts in the field have told Geraldine that anyone who is under for more than 20 minutes usually has some serious issues caused by lack of oxygen to the brain. Derek was under for around an hour so Geraldine's CPR technique was vital to both his survival and full recovery.

Geraldine is now trying to start a movement to convince everyone to learn CPR.