'All of a sudden she went dead': Warwick senior saves a life
How this Queensland man helped to save the life of a Facebook friend who lives on the other side of the world.
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IF IT weren't for the quick-thinking of Warwick man Tony Pritchard, Kathy Hicks' life may have ended on the floor of her West Virginia home.
Tony and Kathy met over Facebook and the 79-year-olds quickly struck up a friendship where they talked about "anything and everything".
The Tech Savvy Seniors course at Warwick Library inspired Tony to broaden his social horizons and meet hundreds of penpals from around the world.
"It's helped me connect with so many people I wouldn't have met otherwise," he said.
"I do that instead of watching telly, now."
But one evening, a little after midnight, Tony noticed something was wrong with his new-found American friend.
"I just had a feeling," he said.
"She is a very straight woman and she was talking irrationally in a funny fashion.
"Then all of a sudden she went dead."
Kathy's heart had stopped.
Tony used his social media skills to filter through Kathy's Facebook friend list, desperate to find a relative he could alert from 14,000km away.
"I didn't have any phone numbers or other connections," he said.
"Finally I was able to contact her sister in North Carolina who contacted another sister who went straight around.
"They found Kathy on the floor and called the paramedics who had to resuscitate her twice."
A team of surgeons awaited Kathy's arrival at the hospital, one of whom "rushed into the room with a hypodermic syringe and plunged it into her heart."
"They had all the family ready to say goodbye," Tony said.
Blood tests revealed Kathy had 11 superbugs in her system, causing her sepsis.
"In America there's more people that die from sepsis than from heart attack," Tony said.
After diagnosis, healing came quickly and Kathy was soon back to her usual self.
"It was a massive relief," Tony said.
"Kathy said I was her saviour and all sorts of silly things but it's just one of those things you do."
But Tony admits none of it would have been possible without free library courses.
"I definitely wouldn't have been able to help without them," he said.
"I probably wouldn't have been talking to her in the first place!"
Originally published as 'All of a sudden she went dead': Warwick senior saves a life