Heritage
‘Their speed saved my life – and heart’
When a man collapsed and fell unconscious on a beach, quick-thinking RNLI lifeguards sprinted to the rescue.
Sand, sea and surf. Fistral Beach in Newquay, Cornwall, ticked all the boxes as a holiday destination for Richard Wright and family, who rented a holiday house there in September 2024. They planned to bodyboard, picnic on the beach and potter around Newquay. But 3 days in, the holiday took a terrifying turn.
‘I had no warning that it was going to happen,’ says Richard, 62. ‘It was a mild day, I had on my 5mm wetsuit, so I wasn’t cold, and I was helping my daughters Charlotte, 25, and Lucy, 23, catch a few waves in the lifeguarded area of the beach. After a while I walked back up the beach to the dunes where we’d set up camp, happy with the session I’d had in the water. I chatted to my wife, Tracey, and Lucy’s partner, Will, as I untangled myself from my wetsuit. Then I suddenly felt extraordinarily light-headed.’
At that moment, Richard’s memory goes blank.
Collapsed and unconscious
Tracey meanwhile was putting Richard’s wetsuit into a carrier bag. She turned round to find him collapsed on the sand and at first thought he was teasing their dog, Flo. But she quickly realised something was seriously wrong. ‘His eyes were wide open and he was trying to catch his breath,’ Tracey recalls. ‘Will was walking down to the sea, unaware of what had happened, so I shouted for him to come back to call 999.’
Passersby tried to help. They waved frantically at the lifeguards to get their attention. ‘I was trying to talk to Richard, but he fell unconscious and stopped breathing,’ says Tracey. ‘It was surreal because moments before we were chatting normally. The lifeguards came running full pelt towards us, with their kit, and took over from me. I stood back and watched as one lifeguard did chest compressions and another used the defibrillator on Richard. It all happened so fast.’
Thanks to the quick-thinking lifeguards, Richard regained consciousness in a matter of minutes. But the drama wasn’t over. When the ambulance arrived, Richard was taken to hospital where he learned he’d suffered a cardiac arrest.
Every second counts
‘There are missing bits of the story for me,’ says Richard. ‘I came round on the beach, with a gaggle of people around me, on my side in the sand. I knew something had happened, but I didn’t know what exactly. In hospital, the physicians were very clear; the speed of the lifeguards had saved my life.’
Richard learned that three of his arteries were blocked and he was going to need a triple heart bypass. Major surgery, but because the lifeguards had acted promptly, his heart was undamaged, and he would likely make a full recovery.
‘The medics said it’s quite normal to see scarring on the heart or similar after this type of event, but they had a good look at my heart and said there was no damage,’ says Richard. ‘They put this entirely down to how quickly I was brought back round by the lifeguards. They said it’s one thing knowing what to do with a defibrillator but being decisive and using it accurately is another thing.’
‘The training the RNLI lifeguards receive is outstanding,’ he reflects. ‘Having the confidence and capacity to take control of the situation and act on a stranger surrounded by their family is admirable. It’s down to the mindset of the person, the way they’ve been trained by the RNLI and the standards that they’re held to. If it wasn’t for those lifeguards, I might not be here. I’m incredibly grateful.’
Tracey adds: ‘The lifeguards saved Richard’s life. While he was in hospital, I went back to Fistral to thank them but they didn’t want any praise. They said it’s all in a day’s work. I think what RNLI lifeguards do is absolutely amazing.’
Ready to respond
Steve Hardy was one of four lifeguards on duty that day, alongside Marcelo Crivicich, Saul Woodfinden and Harry Pleasants. All four were in the lifeguard hut looking out to sea when Steve noticed something out the corner of his eye.
‘I could see someone waving their arms and screaming near the hut,’ he remembers. ‘We looked around and realised it was serious. One of the other guards got our medical grab bag then three of us ran to the emergency, while one stayed in the hut to look after communications.’
Steve, Marcelo and Saul learned that Richard had collapsed, and in among the panic, Steve noticed Tracey in the crowd.
‘I could see the expression on her face and knew how awful it must be for her to see her husband in that position,’ he says. ‘I went straight to Richard’s head and could tell from his eyes and movement that he wasn’t breathing. I checked his tummy for the rise and fall of breath which confirmed he wasn’t breathing and then I went straight to compressions on his chest, while another lifeguard cut off his dry robe. I shouted that we needed the defibrillator, and the third lifeguard, Marcelo, was opening the grab bag and getting the defibrillator ready. While all this was going on, I was updating Harry in the hut to call the ambulance.’
Training and teamwork
Marcelo used the defibrillator on Richard and then Steve returned to chest compressions. In a matter of nail-biting minutes, Richard responded. The lifeguards put Richard into the recovery position and talked to him to keep him alert. Within another 5 or 10 minutes, the ambulance arrived and paramedics took over.
‘It was a complete team effort,’ says Steve. ‘Luckily we got there quickly and got on with what we’re trained to do. We called upon our casualty care training which is vital. When you start working for the RNLI you do 3 days of casualty care training as part of 2 weeks of training, learning what to do in lots of different scenarios. It’s intense but you learn so much.’
Steve stresses the importance of teamwork. ‘Imagine if I’d arrived at that scene on my own - we relied on each other and worked as a team,’ he says. After Richard was taken to hospital, the lifeguards had a debrief with their manager, to talk through the details of what happened, what could have been done better and what did they do well. Often, in situations like this, lifeguards don’t find out what happened to the person they helped, but Tracey visited to let them know Richard was stable in hospital – and to thank them. And 4 months on, Richard is recovering well after triple heart bypass surgery.
‘To know that we’ve helped Richard is amazing,’ Steve says. ‘It was fortunate that he collapsed near our hut and that we could get there and get the defibrillator on him quickly. Helping people is the reason we do what we do. A lot of us are surfers and think of the sea as our second home so we’re comfortable out there but being able to learn lifesaving skills from the RNLI and to use those skills to save lives is amazing.’
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