Perth man saves wife’s life with newly acquired first aid skills

When Derek Edwards signed up to do a first aid refresher course with St John WA in July, he had no idea how soon he would need to use his new skills; skills that would ultimately save his wife’s life.

Donna Edwards was eating dinner at home in early August when she started choking.

Hearing his mum in distress, Donna’s 16-year-old son Lachlan raised the alarm and Derek dialled Triple Zero (000).

Emergency help was arranged, with multiple ambulance crews sent to the family’s address in Perth’s northern suburbs.

Donna was unresponsive.

She was not conscious, and not breathing.

Still on the phone with SJWA Communications Officer Tegan Wix, Derek was instructed to start CPR.

For the next seven minutes, until the first ambulance crew arrived, Derek performed the lifesaving procedure on his beloved wife.

“When it is a loved one, it is the scariest thing and I don’t wish it on anyone,” Derek said.

“I just went straight into CPR and tried to keep as calm as I could – as the training says but, on the inside, I was so tense.

“A lot of the training kicked in and if I hadn’t done it, I don’t think Donna would be here today.”

In a tearful reunion, the Edwards family were reunited with the SJWA team who helped save Donna’s life.

SJWA First Aid Trainer Monique Gillett praised her former student Derek for his actions.

“You hope your students leave training not having to use the skills you teach them, but if they do need to, you hope they feel confident enough to be able to,” she said.

“First aid is a skill that is generally with you for life and can help anyone in the community.

“It’s a lifesaving skill that can potentially change a family’s outcome if you can keep a person stable until emergency services arrive.”

Donna, who spent a month in hospital following the terrifying incident, calls her husband – and her son – her heroes.

“It is still difficult to come to terms with just how fast it happened, I was just watching TV and eating dinner,” she said.

“Everyone should learn first aid because it could happen to anyone at any time and if Dereck didn’t know what he knew, I wouldn’t be here, which is a scary thought.

“These guys are really my heroes; it would’ve been really confronting for them to see me like that, and they did so well – now they are stuck with me.”

Go to https://stjohnwa.com.au/first-aid-training/first-aid-sale.

St John WA has 20 per cent off popular First Aid Courses in September in honour of World First Aid Day.

 Anyone can learn to save a life.