Skip to content

Volunteers saved cyclist after roadside heart attack

Aileen Moynagh
BBC News NI health reporter
BBC A man on a black leather sofa, he is wearing a blue sweater with a zip collar and is looking at the camera. He has grey, receding hairBBC
Paul McAdam was told by the surgeon that 99% of people who experience what he did do not survive

A County Tyrone man has said he is "eternally grateful" to volunteers for saving his life, after being told there was at least a two-hour wait for an ambulance.

Paul McAdam was cycling with his club on 29 December 2024 when he felt a tightness in his chest and he passed out at the side of the road.

The 54-year-old from Coalisland was having a heart attack.

The Northern Ireland Ambulance Service (NIAS) alerted the local Killeeshil/Galbally Community First Responders who treated him and drove him to Craigavon Area Hospital.

He was subsequently blue-lighted to the Royal Victoria Hospital in Belfast where he had surgery to remove a clot in his artery and a stent fitted.

Community First Responder Schemes are made up of volunteers who live within their local community and complement the NIAS.

Their aim is to reach a potentially life-threatening emergency in the vital first few minutes before the arrival of an ambulance crew.

Island Wheelers cycling club Paul McAdam wearing a cycling speed suit which is red black and white with 'Chieftain' written across the front of it. He is holding a red bicycle upright standig in front of a stone wall. Island Wheelers cycling club
Mr McAdam says a big reason he survived was that he was not cycling alone

Mr McAdam said it has been a "whirlwind journey".

"I'm here and a big part of that's down to being in the first instance, out with the cycling club the Island Wheelers.

"If I was on my own somewhere this could have been an entirely different story.

"The first responders were brought in and got me where I needed to be".

When he was in surgery, he said the surgeon showed him a little plastic container with the blood clot in it and told him that "when I see that 99% of people haven't made it".

"That really hit home how lucky I was," he said.

Ambulance service under pressure

Paul McCaughey on the left, is wearing an orange sweater and looking at the camera. He has grey hair. Paul McAdam is on the right, wearing a dark jumper with a check shirt underneath. Both are sitting down and looking into the camera.
Paul McCaughey (left) set up Killeeshil/Galbally CFRs in 2018, as an opportunity to support the local community in a rural area

Paul McCaughey set up Killeeshil/Galbally CFRs in 2018, as an opportunity to support the local community in a rural area.

He was the first of four responders to arrive and tend to Paul McAdam.

"Where Paul was at that time, we were alerted to that post code area, and it comes through to us as a SMS text message," he said.

Mr McCaughey was able to pinpoint Mr McAdam's location, "which is great because we know where we're going and we'll get there a lot quicker than an ambulance".

Paul McCaughey sat on a leopard print lounge chair, wearing an orange fleece and looking at the camera
Paul McCaughey was the first of four responders to arrive and tend to Paul McAdam

He suspected Mr McAdam was having a heart attack and made the decision to take him to hospital as he did not feel Mr McAdam had two hours to wait for an ambulance.

"A call like that, ideally, should be roughly 20-25 minutes, but in a real world it's not happening because it's [the service is] under so much pressure."

Mr McCaughey said what happened to Mr McAdam shows the strain on the health service that they rely on volunteers and communities to do this.

There are 22 Community First Responder schemes across Northern Ireland, primarily in rural areas, with a further two in training, and more than 400 volunteers.

Chances of survival

Michael Allen Michael Allen is wearing a green ambulance shirt and is standing in front of some bushes and a fence. Michael Allen
Michael Allen, NIAS community resuscitation team manager, says CFRs can be "the difference between life and death"

Michael Allen, NIAS community resuscitation team manager, said the vital work that CFRs do in their own communities can be "the difference between life and death" and they provide "an essential backup for the ambulance service".

"If we refer to the community resuscitation strategy for Northern Ireland where the aim of that is to increase survival for patients in 'out-of-hospital' cardiac arrest, the ambulance service response time target is about eight minutes.

"Potentially that will be eight minutes with no intervention from anyone other than CFRs, who may well turn up.

"With every minute that passes without CPR or AED (Automated External Defibrillator) intervention, your chances of survival can drop by 10%.

"The stark reality of that is when an ambulance arrives, you could be down to a 20% survival chance without CPR and AED through CFR group," he said.

Mr McAdam said he is "still emotional" about what happened but said the Killeeshil/Galbally CFRs had saved him.

"To know that there's somebody there can step in and help out the ambulance service whenever they're under too much pressure can only be a good thing," he said.

"It's a massive thing that people are prepared to give up their time and no funding and [are] still going out and saving people's lives."

What are community first responders?

CFRs are alerted to incidents that are considered to be potentially life-threatening medical emergencies, including:

  • people in cardiac arrest—unconscious and not breathing
  • people with chest pain who may be having a heart attack
  • those who are choking
  • those who are unconscious for an unknown reason but are breathing normally
  • people who are potentially suffering from a stroke.

They do not attend calls where the patient is under 12 years old, trauma-related incidents such as road crashes, calls involving alcohol drugs or potential violence or incidents where the patient is suffering mental health issues.