Lee Lovell meets QAS medical director Steven Rashford who tried to save his wife’s life

Initially gripped with fear paramedics had given up on his wife Emma too soon following an horrific home invasion, Lee Lovell says hearing the graphic details of what happened helped him heal.

Lee Lovell says meeting with the high-profile medical respondent that attempted to save his wife’s life helped him heal in the wake of the tragedy.

Mr Lovell, whose wife Emma was stabbed to death at home on Boxing Day last year, said he initially grappled with fears paramedics had given up too soon.

Meeting with Queensland Ambulance Service medical director Dr Stephen Rashford, Mr Lovell was reassured first responders did everything they could to save Ms Lovell’s life.

They performed open-heart surgery on her front lawn after the horror attack.

Queensland Ambulance Service medical director Stephen Rashford. File picture: Nigel Hallett

“I arranged to go and meet the paramedics and Dr Rashford afterwards to sort of say thank you to them,” he said.

“Dr Rashford then actually went into more detail than what I expected … He basically told me they did an open heart surgery on our grass.”

Lee Lovell and his daughters Scarlett and Kassie at their North Lakes home. Picture: Lyndon Mechielsen/Courier Mail

He said Dr Rashford revealed Emma had survived a tricky open heart surgery against incredible odds.

“He was telling me that they trained for that here in Brisbane … But like if this happened to her in, say, North America, she wouldn’t have survived because they don’t train for it,” he said.

“He was saying ‘I would have given odds of maybe one out of 40 of surviving’ with the injuries she sustained and he told me that it was probably the worst knife wound or heart injury that he’s ever seen.

“But she actually survived the surgery, it was just that her heart was eventually just (too) weak.”

Originally published as Lee Lovell meets QAS medical director Steven Rashford who tried to save his wife’s life