A QUICK-thinking Worcester woman who saved her golfing partner’s life after witnessing him having a heart attack during a video call, has reunited with him to play 36 holes in aid of the British Heart Foundation.
Shannon Jeffries, aged 61, was about to drive to Bewdley Pines Golf Club to meet Darren Oliver for their regular weekly game in February, when she received a video call from him saying he needed to cancel.
Darren, aged 60, who lives alone, was in his car outside his house in Kidderminster, and about to set off when he suddenly felt very faint and sweaty. He video-called Shannon to say he felt too unwell to play and then lost consciousness.
Shannon said: “I knew immediately I saw his face on the screen that something was very wrong as he looked so grey. He got the words out and then started stuttering and dropped the phone.
“We only knew each other through golf, so I didn’t have his address, but knew he lived alone. I was the only person who knew what had just happened, so I just had to somehow get to him.”
Shannon immediately called Darren’s golf club, who under the circumstances gave her Darren’s address. She drove the ten-minute journey and found him slumped over the steering wheel of his car.
She continued: “I rang the ambulance straight away and the operator told me to drag him out of the car onto the floor and to clear his airways. At the time Darren weighed more than 20 stone and I couldn’t move him. He was still breathing, so I managed to push his seat back and tilt his head back.
“I knew from our conversations that he was close to his mum. I needed to let her know how serious it was. I got his phone and put it up to his face so that it would open through facial recognition. I found her number and called her to tell her to meet us at Worcestershire Royal Hospital.
“Darren went in the ambulance and had a cardiac arrest on the way, but was resuscitated by the paramedics. When I arrived, I met his mum for the first time. She looked so worried and obviously very frightened.
“We were both shown into the relatives’ room and told that Darren had suffered another two cardiac arrests, and that we should go and say our goodbyes before they put him in an induced coma as they didn’t think he would make it.
“It sounds daft now, but I pulled a golf ball out of my bag and put it in his hand and told him to hang on. He was squeezing it.”
Against all odds, Darren pulled through and underwent an emergency procedure to fit two stents in his arteries that had become blocked. He was treated in ICU for nine days and remained in hospital for a further eight days.
Since then the retired chef has gone on to lose eight stone and is back playing golf every week with Shannon.
The pair held a marathon eight hour 36-hole golf fundraiser as guests of Droitwich’s Gaudet Luce Golf Club raising more than £1,600 for the British Heart Foundation.
Darren added: “I’m so grateful to Shannon as it’s terrible to think what might have been if she hadn’t got to me. I’ve still got Shannon’s golf ball. it’s a Titleist, so she’s not having it back. I carry it in my bag as a reminder always.”
