Midwife who lost her dad to cardiac arrest helps save another father’s life on sports pitch

A midwife who tragically lost her own father to a cardiac arrest when she was young, has been honoured by the Royal Humane Society after helping to save the life of another dad who suffered a dramatic cardiac arrest of his own on a local sports pitch. 

Melanie Stinton, who works at Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust, knows the devastating impact of cardiac arrest first-hand, but her quick thinking and leadership helped spare another family the same loss that she experienced.

While watching her sons play at Droitwich Spa Football Club, Mel sprung into action when 60-year-old Peter Prendiville suddenly collapsed playing hockey on a nearby pitch. Peter required resuscitation, and as Medical Officer for the sports ground where the emergency took place, Mel ran over and drew on her years of NHS experience to coordinate the response with a calm, structured approach. 

The incident happened during a local hockey match when Peter appeared to take an ordinary fall before it became clear something was seriously wrong. He was not breathing and required immediate cardiopulmonary resuscitation, known as CPR.  

Mel was just a teenager when her dad sadly passed away at 42 from a cardiac arrest with no one around him who knew how to respond. 

“That little bit of me always thinks, ‘if somebody had known CPR or been able to have access to a defibrillator, would they have saved his life?’ So obviously my mission in life has always been, I’m never going to let that happen to anybody else”, she explained. “That’s stayed with me all my life. If I can stop that happening to another family, then it’s all been worth it.”  

Mel has spent decades in Worcestershire’s hospitals honing her resuscitation skills, and when she heard a shout in the clubhouse for a defibrillator, she knew straight away that it meant a cardiac arrest. “I took charge making sure everyone knew their role and that we were all working together,” she described. 

Alongside her, responders delivered continuous CPR while a defibrillator was used repeatedly in an effort to restart Peter’s heart. In total, he received around 20 minutes of CPR and five shocks before paramedics arrived on scene. 

Against the odds, he was still alive when he was handed over to the ambulance service and was brought in by blue lights to Worcestershire Royal Hospital for emergency treatment. Peter has no doubt about what made the difference for him. “Early CPR and the defib, that’s what saved me,” Peter said. 

He described waking up in hospital in significant pain from the life-saving interventions, including broken ribs from chest compressions, but with a growing realisation of how close he had come to dying. “I look back now and think I’m just incredibly lucky,” he said.

While unconscious and undergoing resuscitation, Peter describes having a memory of something that might be described as “seeing the light”, but miraculously experienced no lasting brain damage.

Today, Peter is back doing what he loves on the hockey pitch again. “Since I am back on the hockey I don’t do as much running, but my heart’s working much better now and I feel I have more energy”, he added. 

For Mel, who has completed annual resuscitation training for more than 28 years, the incident was a powerful reminder of why those skills matter. “You can go your whole career thinking you’ll never need to use it, but when it happens you realise just how privileged you are to be able to make a difference”, she said.  

Six weeks after the incident, Mel and Peter met each other for the first time since that day. “I was lucky enough to meet Peter a few weeks later, which was lovely to know that the early intervention had kept this man alive”, Mel described.  

Cardiac arrest survival rates in the community remain less than 10%, but Peter’s experience shows the life-saving importance of training, early CPR and the swift use of a defibrillator. “Everybody should learn CPR. You never know when you might need it. It could be family, it could be a friend or a random stranger, and you could save a life.” he said. 

Mel and others involved were recently recognised with an award from the Royal Humane Society but says “the fact that he’s alive is what matters”. Thanks to Mel’s quick thinking and years of training along with organised teamwork, Peter’s family were spared the same devastating loss she experienced. 

You can read more information and guidance about CPR at: www.nhs.uk/tests-and-treatments/first-aid/cpr/