A theatre-goer got a standing ovation from the audience after saving the life of a woman from Highbridge who had suffered a heart attack.
24-year-old Kristian Keyte, pictured, had gone to see The Bodyguard at The Bristol Hippodrome when Judith Mansfield, 71, collapsed in the stalls.
Luckily, Kristian is a student nursing at the University of the West of England. He helped lay her on the floor before Kristian gave her life-saving CPR until the ambulance crew arrived.
He said: “I don’t really know why I noticed her – we were just waiting for the show to start but there was something that didn’t seem quite right and then everything happened so quickly when she suddenly went into seizure.”
“I rushed over to her and checked her airways and I could see that she had agonal breathing which is where there is some movement but not enough to sustain life. With the help of others we lifted her out of her seat and on to the floor so that I could reassess her breathing. I would estimate that the time of arrest to start of resuscitation at less than a minute.”
“I had to perform CPR for about two minutes and also needed to use the Hippodrome defibrillator which applied a shock and brought back a pulse. Her breathing was still very slow so we used the ventilation bag to get her breathing again.”
“The ambulance crew arrived within seven to eight minutes and by that time she was awake but disorientated. I stayed with her whilst the ambulance crew gave her oxygen and monitored her condition.”
Beverley Bishop, Judith’s daughter, told Burnham-On-Sea.com that the family is hugely grateful.
“The entire family are eternally grateful to Kristian and everyone else who helped, including St John Ambulance and the ambulance crew. It could have been a very different story.”
Beverley added that Judith – who was a well-known staff member at GW Hurleys in Burnham High Street until she retired – is still in hospital but is “doing remarkably well considering what happened.”
She recounted how the incident unfolded. “We were walking up to the theatre and I noticed she was puffing a bit, so I said there was no need to rush and said we could slow down.”
“We got to our seats and started taking our coats off when I suddenly reaslised she was unresponsive. I shouted for help and called out for an amublance. It was hugely distressing and all a blur. And then out of nowhere Kristian appeared and was just amazing.”
“He quickly realised it was serious and started doing CPR. More help arrived soon after with Craig and Steve from St John’s, and a defibrilator which brought her back around. They were all just so fanatastic – and the theatre staff were amazing – they treated her with so much dignity.”
“We can’t thank Kristian enough – and it was great that he and the others have been able to visit mum this week in hospital. They have all been fantastic.”
