A woman who suffered a cardiac arrest and stroke while driving has been reunited with the police officers who fought to save her. Jacqueline Alston’s heart stopped beating for more than an hour after the incident in May, but she has since made a miraculous recovery and was able to spend Christmas at home with her family in Braintree.
Her husband, Gary, believes a guardian angel is watching over her as a series of fortuitous coincidences meant Jacqueline, 62, quickly received the medical assistance that kept her alive.
“She shouldn’t be here really. Nobody survives a stroke and a cardiac arrest,” Gary said. “If you saw what happened in a film, you’d turn it off because it was unbelievable. Nobody who attended the scene should have been there.”
Tailbacks on the M11 meant Jacqueline decided to take a diversion along Dunmow Road in rural Ongar when she fell ill and lost consciousness. Her car swerved and slowly came to a stop against a telegraph pole. Two members of the public, Andy Fleming and Adrian Rowell, rushed to help. Luckily, as it was a warm day, Jacqueline’s sunroof was open so they could get into the locked car and get her out.
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Meanwhile, Sgt Rob Fitt and PC Tom Baggley of the council-funded community policing team in Epping had just stopped for a coffee at a nearby shop when details came through on their radios. They immediately sped to the scene. They arrived to find another member of the public, Mark Johnson, a trained medic, had spotted Andy and Adrian as he drove by and stopped to help.
Sgt Fitt and PC Baggley cut Jacqueline’s clothes and took over the CPR while Mark prepared a defibrillator that a fourth passer-by had retrieved from a nearby farm.
The team continued working on Jacqueline and gave her four shocks from the defib before being joined by helicopter paramedics.
Jacqueline’s chances of survival appeared slim. She was given two further shocks, and had a robot strapped to her chest to perform compressions before one of the paramedics detected a slight electrical charge in her heart. She was then transferred by ambulance to Basildon Hospital.
Officers from the Road Policing team were dispatched to take Gary Alston to the hospital to be with his wife. There, he met Sgt Fitt and PC Baggley who had travelled with Jacqueline. Still unconscious, she was placed on life support in intensive care.
Gary booked into a hotel that night believing he’d be saying goodbye to his wife the next day, but Jacqueline’s condition improved. She regained consciousness and was talking four days later.
Following treatment at Basildon, Broomfield, Brentwood and Homerton hospitals, Jacqueline returned home permanently in December where she was able to enjoy the festive season with Gary, their two sons and three grandchildren. Sgt Fitt has kept in touch with Gary throughout Jacqueline’s treatment and he and PC Baggley recently visited the couple’s house for a moving reunion.
“When we found out Jacqueline was conscious it was fantastic but to go to the house and see her was absolutely unbelievable,” said Sgt Fitt. “It was surreal. Nobody expected her to be having a family Christmas.”
Sgt Fitt said he had tears in his eyes when Jacqueline thanked him and PC Baggley for saving her life, a memory he said he’ll always think back to on tough days at work.
He added: “It was emotional. It’s a moment where you see the direct impact of your actions, on Jacqueline, her husband, children, and grandchildren. One of their neighbours even came to thank us for what we’d done for the family.
“You just do the best you can with every job you go to. Those vital seconds at the start made all the difference, and you’ve done your job if you’ve given someone the best possible chance of survival.
“But it wasn’t just us, it was everyone there; the members of the public, the paramedics at the scene, and the life-saving intervention from the doctors and nurses, which has got Jacqueline to where she is today.”
Husband Gary said that Jacqueline’s recovery was going “fantastically well” and that being reunited with Sgt Fitt and PC Baggley “really pulled on the heartstrings”. He added: “One of the neurology consultants at Broomfield said my wife has a guardian angel, and we’ve come to believe it. Her heart stopped for one hour and seven minutes. What a different Christmas it would have been for us.
“When we met Rob and Tom again there were tears all round. The police, ambulance service, the NHS, you couldn’t fault them. I don’t think the public always appreciates the work they do. Jacqueline’s treatment has been full of love and care – the NHS have been beyond belief. We’re lucky to live where we do.
“I’m a black cab driver and I know people like a moan sometimes, but I’ve put people in their place when they’ve criticised the police because what they did for us was unreal.”