Wigan man thanks Robin Park gym staff for saving his life

A man from Wigan has thanked quick-thinking staff at Robin Park Leisure Centre for saving his life after he suffered a heart attack at the gym.

Paul Sutton, 59, had just finished a 5k run at the council-owned Be Well facility when he collapsed to the floor.

Quickly spotting the signs of cardiac arrest, highly-trained instructors performed three rounds of CPR and administered one shock with the on-site defibrillator – earning the praise of paramedics who rushed Paul to Manchester Royal Infirmary for surgery.

Happily, he survived and, three months on, he returned to the gym to thank staff in person for saving his life.

Paul, a self-employed electrician who lives in Wrightington with his wife Debbie, said: “I don’t remember much of what happened. I’d just finished running a 5k and pressed the ‘cool down’ button – and that’s when it all went wrong.

“I just felt a little bit dizzy, and then the next thing I know Gus (one of the instructors) is knelt over me asking ‘Do you know where you are?’ At first, I thought ‘am I dreaming?’

“He explained I’d had a cardiac arrest. I actually wanted to get back up, I was quite embarrassed, but he said ‘no, stay where you are, we’ve got paramedics coming’, and he put me in the recovery position.”

Ambulance and air ambulance teams were on site within minutes, and both they and doctors at Manchester Royal left Paul in no doubt that the gym team’s swift action had saved his life.

“The doctor was full of praise for the staff and said if it wasn’t for their quick thinking I wouldn’t be here,” he revealed. “So, I’m incredibly grateful to them. I feel really good now and it’s nice to come back and see everybody again.”

Fitness instructor Gus O’Donnell was the first to spot Paul in trouble and delivered the life-saving CPR with the help of colleagues Darren Bibby, Declan Goodfellow, Daniel Hardman and Chris Rigby.

Gus, a former rugby league player for Wigan and St Helens, said: “I’d just turned my back on Paul when I heard a big thud. I thought he was dead; he wasn’t breathing, his lips and ears had gone blue.

“When something like that happens you just go into autopilot. I hit the panic alarm and, credit to the staff, we all worked well as a team and it was amazing how quickly we did it. It’s great to see Paul back again.”

Councillor Chris Ready, Wigan Council’s cabinet portfolio holder for communities and neighbourhoods, said: “We give all our Be Well instructors the training they need to know what to do in the event of a medical emergency, but nothing can truly prepare you for the pressure of a real-life situation when somebody’s life is on the line.

“Paul simply wouldn’t be here today without the team’s quick and calm response – so I want to say a massive thank you to them for their actions. They really are heroes!”

Paul was fitted with four stents and his very own defibrillator (ICD) and has continued his recovery at Robin Park with a weekly NHS cardiac rehab class, which is delivered at the centre as part of Be Well’s growing partnership with local healthcare providers.

He hopes to be back in the gym soon so he can resume his remarkable fitness journey, having lost two-and-a-half stones prior to the incident on 15 April through a combination of exercise and changes to his diet.

“I’d been coming to the gym since February after a high blood pressure scare and I’d gone from 17st 8 to 15 stone – although I’ve put a bit of that back on now,” he explained.

“I did ask the doctor whether I could have been overdoing it at the gym and if that could have caused the heart attack and they said no, it was just one of those things and I was lucky I was here when it happened.

“The staff here are absolutely fantastic, they really give you the motivation you need. They also have people coming with special needs and they really get the best out of them, so I think with some one-to-one support I can get back to where I was.”