When Arick Williams says he is his brother’s keeper, he means it literally.
The two men were out hunting iguana on a Sunday in November, when 40-year-old Aron felt a pain in his chest and blacked out.
When he awoke, it was ten days later.
He was in a hospital bed at Health City being told he had just come through open heart surgery.
“I don’t remember nothing much about it. I felt bad, so I was taking a little break and then everything went black,” he said.
“The next thing I know, I am in hospital hooked up to some tubes and they are telling me I have been asleep for 10 days.”
Now he is fully recovered from the life-saving surgery and resting up at home with his family for Christmas.
It was a close call and he gives thanks to God for his survival, but also to his younger brother.
Arick, 33, picks up the story from where his brother was resting up in the car while he pursued an iguana.
He was looking around for his prey, when he noticed Aron was suffering.
“I saw him shaking, like he was having a seizure. I was calling his name, tapping his face to see if he could pull through.”
Arick called 911 as he drove towards George Town hospital. He knew the signs from a previous incident his brother had experienced in August.
“My brother has had a heart attack,” he said.
By now it was clear that Aron wasn’t breathing.
Following the guidance of the call operator, he pulled over and started giving CPR to his brother by the side of the road in Savannah.
The two men had done a course together only a few years earlier and he knew what to do.
He could feel Aron’s breath starting to come through. Some passers-by helped out, taking over the CPR, while he gave mouth-to-mouth.
By the time the ambulance arrived, Aron was showing signs of recovery.
“He was actually starting to come through. He was breathing a little bit by himself.”
The EMTs shocked him with a defibrillator en route to Health City, where he was rushed into surgery.
Doctors say Arick’s quick action helped save his brother’s life.
“I tell people, I am my brother’s keeper. We are very close. I just sort of reacted and did what had to be done.”
Aron said he is grateful he had his brother with him.
“It was a good thing that he was there and that we did that seminar on CPR so he knew what to do.”
He said he is feeling better and trying to eat healthier as he recovers from the heart surgery.
Dr. Binoy Chattuparambil, chief cardiac surgeon at Health City, said the co-operation between the 911 services, emergency medical technicians, the Health Services Authority and Health City as well as the swift action of Arick had helped save Aron’s life.
He said the patient had come through a complex surgery after suffering a severe cardiac arrest.
“A couple of times he told me the same thing, this is the best Christmas gift he could wish for,” said Dr. Binoy in a video testimonial produced by the hospital.
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What an amazing story for Christmas.
Despite what one sees in movies it’s very rare that CPR is successful. In fact a friend of ours died after a heart attack even though they were actually in a hospital at the time.