Case Study: Sam - "When I woke up in hospital, I was told how fortunate I was"

It should have been a normal PE lesson during a normal school day for Sam Mangoro. He was doing a basketball warm-up and remembers lining up for the next drill when he suddenly collapsed. Sam had suffered a cardiac arrest and the next thing he remembers is waking up in Southampton General Hospital.

When Sam went into cardiac arrest, a teacher attending a job interview recognised the danger he was in. She told the other teachers to get a defibrillator and began CPR. Sam was shocked four times by the defibrillator, which had only been bought and installed by the school just a few weeks prior to Sam’s cardiac arrest.

When the emergency services began to arrive, Resuscitation Council UK’s Honorary Treasurer, Professor Charles Deakin, was one of the first on the scene. He was working with the ambulance service on a voluntary basis and occasionally responded to emergencies where they needed some extra back up.

Sam was still unconscious when Professor Deakin arrived, so his first order of duty was to work with the paramedics to stabilise his condition. When it was established that Sam wouldn’t deteriorate further, he was taken to Southampton General hospital where he remained for three weeks.

It was a terrifying incident for Sam and his family - especially as this wasn’t Sam’s only cardiac arrest experience. When he was ten days old, he was rushed to hospital when his heart stopped, and he went into multiple organ failure. He was revived by hospital staff, but his parents were gently advised to say goodbye to their son, as the chances of him surviving a transfer to a hospital in London were exceptionally slim.

He was placed on medication, and it was feared he would need a heart transplant, but by the age of 11 he was off his medication and living a pretty normal life - until his second cardiac arrest occurred. This time, it was determined that his cardiac arrest seemed to have been caused by abnormal heart rhythms relating to the scarring on his heart from the arrest he suffered as a baby. It was likely that he unknowingly had these abnormal rhythms for quite a while.

He was fitted with an Implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD) - a small device to treat abnormal heart rhythms, which shocks his heart back into rhythm to prevent future cardiac arrest. Since then, Sam has been healthy and happy - and inspired to educate and help other people.

 Watch Sam talk about his experience:

Want to learn lifesaving CPR skills? Here’s how:

• Lifesaver: Play the award-winning CPR training game that will show you what it’s like to save a life. Free on browser, iOS and Android.
• Restart a Heart: Every October, individuals, schools, and communities come together to learn CPR. Will you join us this year?