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A happy constant in Karl’s life is his love for football. It’s a sport he’s played since he was just four years old, and this affinity has carried on to this very day. You can often find Karl on Wellington’s waterfront, playing indoor football at the Wellington’s Indoor Sports Shed 1, or playing outdoor football closer to home in Campbell Park overlooking Kāpiti Island. 

Karl's sudden and severe health event came out of the blue. That day whilst playing football as he had hundreds of times before, everything changed.

“We had just finished a game and I was walking off the field. It was two to three minutes after the game had finished and I felt as though I was getting tired and not recovering,” Karl recalls.

“The last thing I remember, was thinking, ‘I don’t want to fall and hit my head on the concrete floor’. I got down on my hands and knees and was looking at the floor. It was the last thing I remember seeing.”

Karl didn’t know it yet, but he was having a sudden cardiac arrest. Each week, an average of four to five people has a sudden cardiac across Greater Wellington and Wairarapa.

The quick actions of bystanders who knew CPR

While his teammates were chatting and reflecting on the game, they turned around and saw Karl lying on his back, gasping for breath, changing colour – they knew they had to act, and fast. Karl’s teammate Jo made the emergency call to 111, with Orla looking for the nearest available AED (automated external defibrillator). 

Thankfully, a nearby Shed 1 staff member knew how to perform cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), and quickly began chest compressions while 111 was called, with the support of other bystanders.

“Had it been one of my friends, I wouldn’t have known how to save them. But because they knew what to do, they saved me. That was one thing, I really want to raise awareness on,” Karl explains.

“I’ve been told the thing that saved me was immediate CPR,” Karl says.

Early use of a Wellington Free Ambulance AED

As well as the quick actions of his teammates on the field, an Automated External Defibrillator (AED) was used on Karl.

An AED is a completely automated and portable device that can deliver a lifesaving shock to someone’s heart in the case of cardiac arrest. If used immediately, an AED can increase someone’s chance of survival by up to 80%.

This was critical to Karl’s survival.

Wellington Free Ambulance is one of the main providers of AEDs across the region. Businesses, schools, community groups purchase these lifesaving pieces of equipment from Wellington Free Ambulance. Through our Heartbeat Programme we install, register and maintain these essential devices that are located in the community for public use, free of charge, thanks to The Lloyd Morrison Foundation.

It was one of these Wellington Free Ambulance AEDs that was instrumental in saving Karl’s life, having been installed only two days prior to his cardiac arrest on the Wellington waterfront. 

“Because of the AED, my friend’s and other bystander’s CPR and the response of the paramedics, I was given the best chance possible,” he says.

L-R: Karl's team of rescuers: Maua and Cory (from Fire and Emergency NZ), John (from Fergs Wellington who used the Shed 6 AED and took over CPR), Wellington Free Paramedic Sam, Karl, Josh (from Wellington Indoor Sports who did the first CPR), Jo (Karl's colleague who dialled 111) and Wellington Free Paramedics Keita and Mark

Road to recovery

Calling 111 immediately is also a hugely important part of helping someone in an emergency cardiac arrest situation.  These immediately life-threatening calls are treated with the utmost importance with Wellington Free Ambulance responding under lights and sirens to get there as quickly as possible.

While Karl cannot remember any interactions with paramedics that day, he remains grateful to the combined effort by his peers and paramedics that saw him safely transported to hospital just five days before Christmas 2021.

“We, as a city, are just so lucky to have Wellington Free Ambulance and I’m just so happy to live in Wellington and have Wellington Free Ambulance’s services available for the wider region. It’s both critical, and reassuring,” he says.

Karl woke up in hospital the following day with no memories – he didn’t know where he worked, what his favourite food was, nor how to write his address.

In his first week, an MRI scan determined that Karl had blocked arteries in his heart. A quadruple bypass surgery was required, taking place on 10 January 2022. Five days later he returned home – the start to a long road to recovery. 

“The biggest thing, for everything, was fear. For me, I felt like I was a kid again and I had to go through learning the world, learning life and all those experiences again,” Karl explains.

From going to the end of the driveway, walking up the deck stairs, to running around Campbell Park alone again – Karl was determined to conquer the fear and reclaim his life.

Giving back through Forward Hearts

Throughout his recovery, it's also this feeling of helplessness that inspired Karl to fight for other people and consider what he can do to make a change.

“I saw a constant stream of ambulances turning up to the hospital, and the efforts that Wellington Free Ambulance is doing is just amazing, and I just cannot thank them all enough.”

“As well as seeing all the doctors and nurses, and seeing what everyone is going through, I wanted the opportunity to do something to make a difference,” Karl explains.

As a cardiac arrest survivor who benefited from the use of an AED, Karl was able to participate in the Stryker Forward Hearts Programme.  This programme - run by AED supplier Stryker - provides every survivor with the opportunity to place a free AED in a community space.

Karl has chosen to place his AED at the Village Hall in Paekākāriki, ensuring 24/7 access to this life saving device for anyone in the community and surrounds.

“I feel great driving down the road and it’s right there in front of you. Everybody in the village will know that it is there. We’re the kind of village, that if something happened, someone would be able to grab that and somebody else would be saved,” Karl says.

Karl will also be taking part in one of Wellington Free Ambulance’s Heartbeat CPR training sessions, provided free of charge, thanks to The Lloyd Morrison Foundation. Now, Karl will be equipped with the vital skills that helped save his life, so should a sudden cardiac arrest strike, he can be there to help someone else.

Continuing his passions

During his recovery, Karl remained determined to return to the football pitch.

“All the physios, doctors and nurses said, ‘you’re going to be back to playing football, you’re going to be fine’. But whenever I told my family that I’m going to play again, their faces dropped,” Karl recalls. 

“By going through that healing process, I realised that playing football is what I do. It’s who I am, it’s my release and how I keep fit.”

Just three months after his surgery, Karl returned to play his first game of indoor football, and three weeks later he played a game of outdoor football.

“In my third game back, I scored four goals. I cried running back to halfway. I was ecstatic and over the moon and it just broke it for me that, ‘yeah, you’re back’.”

Learn more about CPR and AEDs

• Book a free CPR training session through The Lloyd Morrison Foundation Heartbeat Programme.
• Enquire about buying a community or private AED by emailing heartbeat@wfa.org.nz

*21/22 Out-of-Hospital Cardiac Arrest Report.