Surf lifesaver Brad Pethers has heart attack during CPR training at Henley Beach, is resuscitated three times
If you’re going to have a heart attack, do it during a CPR training session, surrounded by surf lifesavers.
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A surf lifesaver was in the right place at the right time when he suffered an cardiac arrest.
Brad Pethers, 46, was just about to start CPR training at Henley Surf Life Saving Club when he went into cardiac arrest, his heart stopping three times.
Now, almost a year after the ordeal, Mr Pethers, an Australian rules football umpire and ironman, is urging people to learn CPR to save others in unexpected circumstances.
In the 2019 incident, Mr Pethers was ready for the CPR training course at the Henley Beach-based club when he collapsed on to a training mannequin.
Fellow lifesaver and friend Roy Menner, who was at the training, assisted with restarting Mr Pethers’ heart.
Mr Menner said a trainee alerted him to the fact Mr Pethers was not moving.
“I, of course, just assumed he was mucking around and just being silly, but he wasn’t,” Mr Menner said.
Suddenly, the training course turned into a real-life emergency.
Mr Pethers’ friends used CPR and a defibrillator to restart his heart.
When Mr Pethers later woke in hospital, he was confused, but grateful to his fellow lifesavers.
“If people around me hadn’t learnt CPR and there wasn’t a defibrillator around I certainly wouldn’t be here now,” he said.
“I couldn’t have been in a luckier place, given at arm’s length there was a defibrillator.” He said, as someone fit and healthy, he did not expect to have heart issues.
Mr Pethers encouraged people to make sure they had regular GPs check-ups.
“Given my history, there wasn’t anything to suggest there was something wrong with my heart,” he said.
“It’s just a matter of going and getting it checked out, you just don’t know.”
He said everyone should learn CPR.
“It’s just such a simple thing to learn,” he said. “It can happen to anyone anywhere, just having that simple training can potentially save someone’s life.”
