Saved a life

By Bridget Cook
A CRANBOURNE woman has met up with the elderly man whose life she saved – something she never thought would be possible.
Carol Cope was at Centro Shopping Centre in Cranbourne earlier this year when a man, known as Allan, collapsed near the food court, suffering from a heart attack.
When Ms Cope, a registered nurse, saw the man another woman was already performing CPR on him so she joined in and offered her assistance.
Ms Cope said the women performed CPR for 45 minutes, as well as the man receiving shocks once the ambulance arrived.
Ms Cope said the paramedics said he was gone and began to pack up, when she felt a pulse in his wrist.
“I screamed to them, ‘he’s got a pulse’,” she said.
“They came back and shocked him again and he ended up surviving.
“In the meantime, I ran to Coles where his granddaughter worked so she could be there with him.
“They then took him off to hospital straight away.”
Ms Cope said she felt good that she helped, but went on for months thinking that it wasn’t enough to save his life.
“The next day I rang the hospital to ask how he was, and I was told that he passed away,” she said.
It wasn’t until about two weeks ago, when she was in Coles, that she was approached by the man’s granddaughter who said the family had been trying to track her down.
“His granddaughter said that he wanted to see me,” she said.
“I was so confused, I said ‘I thought your grandfather passed away’.
“I gave her my mobile number and Allan contacted me two days later.”
Ms Cope said she met him on Sunday this week in the same place as the incident unfolded at Centro for a coffee.
“There were tears and cuddles, it was just really lovely to see him there and alive,” she said.
“I said I can’t tell you happy I am to be seeing you rather than giving you the kiss of life.”
Ms Cope said at the time she didn’t think she was saving a life, but was proud that she did.
“I didn’t really see it at the time as saving a life, I just saw that I needed to react and needed to quickly and that’s what I did,” she said.
“If I hadn’t kept my hand on his pulse, he might not be here today.
“So I guess I am proud of that.”