A grateful Rathmullan family has donated a defibrillator to the CRITICAL emergency medical response charity in the hope of saving lives across Donegal.
The donation was made by James Gallagher, on behalf of his family, to Dr Gerry Lane to give thanks for his heroic work last Christmas Eve.
A local Rathmullan lady had suffered a sudden cardiac arrest. Her son James immediately started CPR as the family frantically called 911.
Dr Gerry Lane, a retired Emergency Medical Consultant from LUH, now a volunteer with Critical was on call that evening and received an alert about the emergency.
James had been doing CPR for 20 minutes until local help arrived and took over the CPR and a local football club’s (Whitestrand FC) defibrillator was used.
The family recalled the ease that they got when Dr Lane entered the house and took control of the situation. The experienced medic was able to guide the paramedics to the appropriate care as soon as the ambulance arrived.
Through a series of fortunate events, and fast-acting knowledgeable individuals, the woman’s life was saved.
“It was only after the event we realised the difference Gerry made,” said daughter Rosie Shovelin.
“Mum was beyond a miracle. We are so lucky and we have tried to give that good luck back. My mum and dad purchased the defibrillator to go into the Critical Care jeep. We have had the opportunity to request that the defibrillator has stay in Donegal so that it saves people in this county.
“Through this donation, we hope the defibrillator will be available to anyone in Donegal who may ever have that moment in need that our family did.”
Rosie, James and the entire family will be forever grateful to Dr Lane, who works in a voluntary capacity for Critical and to all the local people of Rathmullan who assisted that night.
To support Critical care and to find out more about the charity, visit: https://criticalcharity.ie (https://criticalcharity.ie/)
