In the nick of time

## What do you remember about the heart attack? ‘I had just made a photocopy and was almost back in my room when I fell against the doorpost. Someone saw me and I have a vague memory of Wouter Peters lying me down. When I came round, I recognized Bert Heusinkveld’s face above me. I pushed his hands away and said, "what are you doing now?" He was resuscitating me.’ ## How did it end? ‘Very well. I have suffered no direct damage, thanks to the fast resuscitation. Another colleague phoned 112 straightaway. When the ambulance men came I was already conscious – which is rare. Now I’ve got an ICD – a kind of internal defibrillator. And I take blood pressure tablets. It could have gone quite differently. I saw patients in the hospital who had to learn to walk all over again.’ ## People are saying you saved your own life… ‘Because I was the one who asked Bert to become a CPR officer. That was about ten years ago.’ A heart attack, resuscitation – that is quite something. How does it feel that your colleagues experienced that? ‘Above all I am very grateful. At the hospital Bert and I gave each other a hug; we were quite emotional. It was quite something for my colleagues to really have to make use of the CPR and resuscitation. Someone said, "If it hadn’t worked out well we might never have dared do this again."’