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On the Saturday morning the ambulance came, Barry had fallen to the ground twice “for no good reason”. There was no pain, no warning - just everything going black.

Thankfully, he had a medical alarm beside his bed.

“I pressed the emergency button, and the company called the ambulance. That was a great relief, because we really didn’t know what was happening.”

Barry had previously been diagnosed with a slow heart rate, but he hadn’t connected that to the fainting episodes.

“In retrospect, it became clear what was happening,” he says. “My heart was stopping intermittently. The electrical signals between the chambers weren’t working properly. It was what they call a heart block. The signals from the top chambers to the bottom chambers weren’t getting through. My heart was making up its mind whether to beat or not.”

A calm, professional response

The paramedics arrived quickly. “They were very professional,” Barry recalls. “They checked me over, made sure I was comfortable, and monitored my blood pressure all the way to hospital.”

In the back of the ambulance, one paramedic stayed with Barry and his wife, calmly explaining what was happening and what would happen next. “It was constant reassurance. In a situation where you don’t quite know whether you’re going to live or die, that reassurance is incredibly important.”

Although Barry’s blood pressure had been very high, it began to lower during the journey. “The paramedics worked as a team. They were efficient and kind. That made all the difference.”

When they arrived at the hospital, the paramedic remained with Barry until he was formally handed over to emergency department staff. “Even though it was busy, I never felt alone.”

A heart that needed help

Tests revealed just how serious Barry’s condition was. At one point, his heart stopped for more than 10 seconds.

“At that stage, the doctors diagnosed a ‘heart block’,” he says. “They explained it was a problem with the electrical signals travelling between the top and bottom chambers of my heart.”

The following day, he was taken to the operating theatre for a pacemaker to be implanted. “The pacemaker was there to regulate my heartbeat,” Barry explains. “To make sure it kept going when those signals failed.”

During the procedure, he suffered a severe angina attack. “That’s when they realised it wasn’t just the heart block,” he says. “Two of my coronary arteries were almost completely closed.”

Days later, he returned to surgery for an angioplasty. “They put in stents to open up those arteries and restore the blood flow,” Barry says. “Obviously, my heart wasn’t in great condition.”

Looking back, he believes the timing of the ambulance response was critical.

“The fact that the ambulance got there quickly and got me into emergency care when they did may well have been the reason I survived.”

Throughout his hospital stay, Barry was struck by the professionalism and compassion of the team caring for him. He remembers the supervising theatre nurse reassuring him before his pacemaker procedure. “She told me not to worry and made sure I was comfortable. She knew exactly what she was doing.”

He was also touched by a staff member who went out of his way to find Barry’s wife and son while he was waiting for surgery. “I was more worried about them not knowing what was happening. He took the trouble to find them and reassure them. That meant a lot.”

Reflecting on his week in hospital, Barry describes it as a league of nations, a diverse team of healthcare professionals from many countries and cultures working seamlessly together. “It was a real demonstration of people working in harmony for the best interests of their patients. That was very reassuring.”

A new pace of life

Adjusting to life with a pacemaker has taken time. “It’s a learning process,” Barry says. “If you’ve done things a certain way for over 70 years, it’s not easy to suddenly slow down.”

He now has to pace himself carefully. “Sometimes I feel a bit puffed and realise I’ve gone a bit too fast. It’s about keeping in step with the pacemaker.”

But there is deep gratitude in his voice when he reflects on how far he has come. Recently, he spent the day in his garden cleaning up after a storm. Before his surgery simple things would be challenging. “Before, I would walk up two or three steps and have to stop. Now I can be on my feet most of the day. It’s a new lease on life.”

Looking back, Barry realises the warning signs had been there. He had mistaken the blackouts for medication side effects. “I put one and one together and got five,” he says. There was no chest pain, just sudden darkness and finding himself on the floor. Now he understands those were moments when his heart had briefly stopped, depriving his brain of blood flow.

Deep gratitude

Barry is clear about one thing: the outcome could have been very different.

“If the ambulance hadn’t arrived when it did and if I hadn’t received the treatment to get me into emergency care quickly, I have no doubt I probably wouldn’t be here.”

On the day it happened, his wife stayed by his side. When he fainted the second time, they activated the alarm together. “The paramedics saved my life. I have no doubt about that.”

Today, Barry is adjusting, learning to slow down, and appreciating each day. “In the end, I’m alive. That’s what matters.”

And for that, he remains grateful to the ambulance team whose skill, efficiency and reassurance carried him through one of the most frightening moments of his life.