A Brisbane runner has been reunited with the strangers who saved her life after she suffered a cardiac arrest during a morning run along the Brisbane River.
Kaley Koppa was almost 10km into the run when she collapsed on a bench. The 43-year-old had been unaware that she had a genetic heart disease.
Her face turned blue and she was clinically dead for several minutes. A couple out for a morning stroll stopped to help and called triple-0.
“Her face is blue. I didn’t know she was that bad. She’s just saying she’s not breathing,” one of the good Samaritans said during the emergency call.
Before paramedics arrived, strangers began performing CPR. Staff from the Star casino brought over a defibrillator, which was used to deliver a life-saving shock.
“I pressed the button, had everyone stand back. We shocked her once,” one of the rescuers said. It was the first time he had used the device.
A year after the incident, Ms Koppa met the people who helped keep her alive as part of World Restart a Heart Day, using the reunion to raise awareness of the importance of bystander CPR.
“These are people that have never met me in their life. I didn’t know who they were and they came and they helped,” she said.
More than 32,000 Australians suffer a cardiac arrest each year, while only 10 per cent survive when it happens outside hospital.
“Everything just lined up so perfectly. It’s not too often that that happens,” Ms Koppa said.
