Cardiac arrest victim buys defibrillator for tennis club that saved him

A man who owes his life to a group of strangers after suffering a heart attack during a game of tennis has returned the favour by donating a heartfelt gift to the Ormond club.

Jeff Fein collapsed on court during a social match. Players Jeff Klyne, Edith Kaminsky, Rivka Garson and Karen Oliver helped save him. Picture: Josie Hayden

Jeff Fein has no memory of what happened.

“You’ll have to ask the others,’’ he said, nodding towards two women talking in the social rooms at Ormond Tennis Club.

He is certain the women — Rivka Garson and Edith Kaminsky — and his nephew Jeff Klyne, saved his life after he suffered a cardiac arrest while playing in the Wednesday night social competition three weeks ago.

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All Fein, 73, can remember is that he and his partner, Klyne, were changing ends of the court. They had been playing for about 30 minutes when he collapsed.

Fortunately for him, Klyne, Garson and Kaminsky moved in quickly to perform CPR. Since Fein was playing his first game of tennis in a few years, they had never met him.

“All of a sudden all we heard was a thump,’’ Garson, who was playing on another court, said.

“Jeff (Klyne) started shouting out, ‘Jeff, get up, Jeff get up, are you OK?’ I ran over and checked on him and (being Canadian-born) yelled, ‘Dial 911!” He was unresponsive, not breathing. I started CPR immediately.’’

Kaminsky had just arrived at the club, heard the commotion and joined in with CPR.

Together with Klyne they tried for up to 10 minutes to revive him. The women were exhausted.

The fire brigade was the first to arrive, followed by three ambulances. By the time Fein left the club he was conscious.

He was taken to Cabrini Hospital, where he was kept in ICU for two days.

Doctors were unable to tell him why he suffered the cardiac arrest — “They were calling me the “Mystery Man’’ — but they fitted a titanium defibrillator to his chest as insurance should his heart become arrhythmic again and to monitor and report his heart rhythms.

He had no history of heart problems and had an echocardiogram two weeks before his collapse. He was told “everything is working well’’.

“There was no pain, there was no lead-up event to it,’’ he said.

“I’m told I bent forward then went over backwards. I hit my head very hard. I was pulling grit out of my head for two days. I’m told my heart was still getting electrical pulses but they were erratic, so instead of pumping blood it was quivering.’’

The episode left Garson shaken.

“In my years of training I’ve never had to perform CPR on anyone,’’ she said.

“I was a swimming teacher, I was a footy trainer for my son’s team for 10 years and not once had I had to do it. I hope I never have to do it again.

“I don’t think I slept for days. Coming back to the club was hard. I was getting anxious that something was going to happen to somebody else.’’

Tennis club vice-president Karen Oliver said quite a few players were at the club on the night “and everyone was in shock’’.

Fein said he would be forever grateful to his nephew and the women for their swift action.

He said he had since learned that only eight per cent of people who have out-of hospital cardiac arrest survive.

Last week Fein returned to the club to present it with a defibrillator. He bought it for $2500, but he said no price could be put on the treatment he received from the other players.

“I’m a very lucky fellow, which is why I wanted to say thankyou,’’ he said.

Oliver said members of the fire brigade took her aside after Fein’s collapse and suggested the club buy a defibrillator.

She said Ormond was a small club and was unable to afford it.

“So Jeff donating one to the club is very important. We’re so appreciative,’’ she said.

The club will also be offering CPR training to members next year.

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