Last year, Hannah Cooke woke up in the middle of the night after her dog began barking nonstop. That was when she realized her husband was breathing strangely beside her, and then suddenly stopped altogether.
She immediately started CPR and kept going until paramedics arrived, ultimately saving his life.
Hannah and her husband believe their four-year-old golden retriever, Polly, is the reason he survived, since Polly’s barking alerted her just in time.
Adam had suffered a heart attack in his sleep.
Hannah, who works in social services, said everything had seemed completely normal earlier that evening. Polly’s barking woke her just before 1 a.m.
At first, she thought Adam might be choking, but then she saw that he had stopped breathing entirely.
She had previously worked as a carer for people nearing the end of their lives, so she recognized the signs of abnormal, end-of-life breathing.
Paramedics shocked Adam with a defibrillator seven times on the way to the hospital.
He finally regained consciousness six days later.
Adam, an avid runner, was only 37 years old when the cardiac arrest happened.
Doctors later diagnosed him with dilated cardiomyopathy, and he received an Implantable Cardioverter Defibrillator, a device designed to deliver an electric shock if his heart rhythm becomes abnormal again.
After recovering in the hospital for several weeks, Adam and Polly were reunited.
An Emotional Reunion
Adam said he wasn’t surprised that Polly played such an important part in what happened, since she’s a part of the family.
When he finally reunited with her, Polly whimpered, and Adam believes she thought he might never come home again.
Hannah said Polly is “so in tune with Adam.” She explained that after Polly barked to wake her, the dog went completely quiet, almost as if she already understood what was happening.
Because of her role in saving his life, Adam nominated both Polly and Hannah for the British Heart Foundation’s annual Heart Hero awards.
Polly wasn’t able to make the trip to London for the ceremony, but she received her CPR medal during a special presentation at her favorite walking trail.
Fearghal McKinney from the British Heart Foundation said he hopes their experience will inspire more people to learn CPR.
He noted that around 40,000 cardiac arrests happen outside of hospitals in the UK each year, and fewer than one in ten people make it through.
He also said that with every minute that goes by after someone collapses, their chances of surviving can drop by as much as 10 percent.
