In this film, Andrew tells us about the impact that his father’s death had on his own health. He became very anxious, particularly when in bed at night, as that is when his father had his OHCA. He felt physically as if he was having a heart attack, even though he knew this was not the case. As well as having problems sleeping, he also suffered heart palpitations caused by the anxiety. He did not seek help for this or tell his family, in case he upset them. He was offered counselling at one stage but turned this down as he wanted to cope on his own. Tablets prescribed by the GP made him very tired, so he stopped taking them. Eventually, Andrew found that writing things down helped him to come to terms with his father’s death. He could write down his thoughts and feeling without upsetting any of his family. This writing has turned in to a way of Andrew fund-raising for money to provide Public Access Defibrillators (PADs) in his local community. He has written about his experiences of cycling from Land’s End to John o’Groats and turned this in to a book which he sells for charity.
This website provides support and information for those who have experienced an out of hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA), their families and those who have been bereaved by OHCA.
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