Owen ‘blacked out’ after ringing the fire brigade about a separate emergency incident
A dad ended up in an ambulance after ringing 999 about a separate emergency incident. Owen Fanning, 32, from Stockbridge Village, has praised Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service following the incident on the evening of September 19.
Owen said he was at home with his son Jacob, 11, and daughter Ivy, 7, while his wife Rosie, 30, was at work. After he told his children to get to bed, Ivy shouted from upstairs that a car was on fire on their street.
But within minutes Owen was in an ambulance after a medical emergency. Owen told the ECHO: “My daughter was upstairs and she shouted down, ‘there’s a car on fire outside.’ I thought she might be watching something on YouTube. I just went out to check and there was a car on fire.
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“I ran back in and got my phone, I rang the fire brigade. I went back outside and rang my wife who said she was on her way home. That’s the last thing I remember. I was in the back of an ambulance after I woke up. I blacked out.”
Sean has had to rely on others to work out what happened in between. He said: “From what I’ve been told since, I fainted on the floor, smashed my face and lost my two front teeth.
“But I didn’t feel a thing, I completely blacked out. I had my daughter in my arms. Apparently, when I fell, she fell with me but she wasn’t hurt.
“I cushioned her with my arm. But her school teacher lives next door but one to us, so she took them inside to get them out of the way. And then, next thing you know I was in the back of an ambulance and they said it was a suspected cardiac arrest.
“The fire brigade turned up after me ringing them. I don’t remember a thing. The lady put the car fire out and the other three were, came over to me and basically saved my life.
“I was down for two to three minutes. I was revived by them and then the ambulance service took over. I was very confused and very dazed when I woke up. My face was smashed in, but I couldn’t feel anything probably because of the adrenaline. When I saw my wife after I’d woken up, I didn’t know who she was.”
Subsequent tests at Liverpool Heart and Chest Hospital in Broadgreen confirmed Owen had a heart attack. He has now been fitted with an implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD), a small device which can treat people with dangerously abnormal heart rhythms.
Owen’s memory has recovered and he is still off work while he improves. He admitted he and his family have had to adapt since the incident.
Owen said: “It’s unheard of for that to happen at my age. It was completely out of the blue. The kids have to be careful around me and not jump on me and stuff like that because I’ve obviously got scars from when the ICD fitted.”
After he left hospital, Owen was keen to thank the emergency services for their work. He presented the fire crew of Old Swan and Kensington with a commendation last month while his sister baked a cake for them.
Owen said: “They never see the second side of it – someone living, walking, talking afterwards. It was a great day when we went to see them.
“The fire service said I was dead for two to three minutes. They got here within four minutes of me ringing them which I can’t thank them enough for. It’s absolutely wild. I still don’t believe it happened.”