Wilf Driedger would not be alive without the timely action of 2 strangers. It simply shows that it was not his time.
Luck, fate and the heroic effort of Maryrose McConnell and Dave Patrick was responsible for saving the life of the 70-year Murrayville resident. For Wilf, the 2 persons are ‘angels’ and gratefully thanks them. Without their help, he would not be around anymore.
Angelic assistance
It was on September 26 when Wilf collapsed close to his Murrayville home while walking his dog Toffee. He suffered a cardiac arrest. He could not recall the incident. When he woke up almost a week later, he was at Royal Columbian Hospital.
It was pure fate that McConnell was there to move through the crowd of onlookers to help. When she got to the scene, he did not have a pulse and turning blue. No one there had training so she started with the compressions. It was about 2 minutes when her boss’s husband was driving by and pulled over to help.
Dave Patrick is a firefighter and was off-duty at the time. When he arrived at the scene, he took over until the ambulance arrived. Despite the efforts of McConnell and Patrick, Wilf’s prognosis was not good.
Today, Wilf depends on a defibrillator pacemaker. Once his heart stops, it will deliver a zap. He would have died if not for the actions of 2 people who acted.
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LEARN MORE
Learn how to help by enrolling in a course on first aid and CPR and for more information, check out these sources:
Mayo Clinic – Cardiac Arrest: Symptoms, Causes, and Treatment
Wikipedia – Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR): Overview and Techniques
Mayo Clinic – First Aid CPR Basics: Understanding Techniques and Procedures