Dargaville man Jason Stewart, left, with Auckland Westpac Rescue Helicopter critical care paramedic Stefan Gabor, who was among those who helped Stewart after he suffered cardiac arrest while competing in the Waka Ama Long Distance Nationals in Whitianga eight weeks ago. Photo / Auckland Rescue Helicopter Trust
Dargaville man Jason Stewart, left, with Auckland Westpac Rescue Helicopter critical care paramedic Stefan Gabor, who was among those who helped Stewart after he suffered cardiac arrest while competing in the Waka Ama Long Distance Nationals in Whitianga eight weeks ago. Photo / Auckland Rescue Helicopter Trust
Jason Stewart doesn’t know who held his hand and gave him a kiss as he was about to be flown to hospital in a critical condition, after his heart stopped during a waka ama race eight weeks ago.
The day he nearly died after collapsing 3km off Whitianga during the Waka Ama Long Distance Nationals is a blank.
Auckland Westpac Rescue Helicopter critical care paramedic Stefan Gabor has filled in some of the blanks, such as how first responders using a defibrillator had restarted Stewart’s heart by the time the helicopter crew arrived, and how his “wife” gave the 54-year-old a final offering of comfort before the lifesaving flight from Whitianga to Auckland eight weeks ago.
But, Stewart told the Herald, he isn’t married. Nor is he in a relationship.
The woman was probably a Hikuwai O Kaipara Waka Ama clubmate who was among many who helped save his life that day. He’s good mates with the woman and her partner.
“She’d done her race, and she was there on the beach and did CPR on me … there were a number of people doing CPR, and they did a pretty good job.
“She was probably thinking, like everyone, that I wasn’t going to make it. So she might’ve been saying her goodbyes.”
The weather in Whitianga was foul the day Jason Stewart suffered cardiac arrest during a waka ama race. This is the scene, as viewed from Auckland Westpac Rescue Helicopter, as people worked to save his life.
The emergency was the third such life-threatening event Stewart has suffered at sea.
In 2009, he was at the helm of conservationist Pete Bethune’s anti-whaling vessel, Ady Gil, when it was involved in a collision with Japanese whaling ship Shonan Maru No 2 in the Southern Ocean.
The “loud, violent” impact in below-freezing waters eight hours sailing from France’s Dumont d’Urville Station Antarctic base tore more than 3m off the 24m protest vessel’s bow.
“I had some good bruises … it definitely rattles your cage. [And] I had this vision of having to swim out of the hull, but I was also cognisant that I didn’t have an immersion suit on, so I was in trouble.
“What saved me was the boat didn’t sink … I had seawater sloshing around close to my feet, but it didn’t sink.”
The crew were rescued by another vessel in the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society’s anti-whaling mission.
The stricken Ady Gil pictured after its collision with Japanese whaling vessel Shonan Maru No 2 in 2009.
A Maritime NZ investigation later found both vessels disobeyed international anti-collision rules for “close quarters” encounters.
The 71m Shonan Maru No 2 kept at an unsafe speed and turned starboard to put itself in a collision course with the Ady Gil - and as the overtaking vessel it was responsible for avoiding a collision, investigators found.
But investigators also criticised Ady Gil skipper Bethune and his crew for not keeping a good lookout and not keeping well clear of the oncoming whaling vessel - although Stewart says he tried to avoid a collision.
It was 11 years later and in the much warmer waters of Taronui Bay, in the Bay of Islands, when Stewart again found himself clinging to a broken boat and hoping for rescue.
On a large-waves training run, he and five crewmates got into trouble after the struts connecting their waka to its ama (outrigger) broke as they turned for the downwind leg.
“We were turfed into the sea 4km from shore.”
Jason Stewart has had more than one brush with death while on the water. Photo / Alex Burton
Although they were wearing lifejackets, had a VHF radio and emergency locator beacon, they feared hypothermia might come before rescue, especially as their VHF radio initially wasn’t working properly.
By the time Coastguard volunteers reached them, two hours had passed. All survived, but Stewart had a body temperature of 35.1C when he was rescued.
Hypothermia occurs when your body temperature falls below 35C, according to the Mayo Clinic.
But it was on April 22 the Dargaville dad-of-two came closest to death on the water.
Seventy-six minutes into a roughly two-hour race he suddenly flopped sideways, his left arm dragging in the water as startled crewmates tried to help.
Within a minute he was being taken to shore on a jet ski, where several people, including a St John ambulance crew, gave CPR and used a defibrillator to restart his heart.
Jason Stewart (right) pictured just before he suffered cardiac arrest during the Waka Ama Long Distance Nationals in Whitianga on April 22. Photo / Supplied still from video
Next, help came from above after a brief opening in the clouds allowed Auckland Westpac Rescue Helicopter pilot Paul Robinson to land the AW169 machine carrying air crew officer Geoff Polglase and critical care paramedics Chris Deacon, and Gabor.
Stewart was “very, very unwell”, but those at the scene had battled time and the conditions - it was pouring with rain - to give him a chance, Gabor said.
“That whole chain of survival, you know? It’s early recognition, it’s CPR, it’s getting help on the way, and it’s defibrillation.
“Everything was kind of against Jason really, but the crew on the scene had done a fantastic job.”
After further treatment, including sedation and intubation, Stewart was flown to Auckland City Hospital, where he later had a defibrillator implanted in his chest.
The cause of his cardiac arrest is yet to be determined, with suspicions that inflammation from a virus may be to blame, Stewart said.
Grateful for a second chance at life, Jason Stewart has been making sure to thank all those who helped save his life after he suffered cardiac arrest while competing in a waka ama race eight weeks ago. Photo / Alex Burton
But he already has a paddle back in his hand.
And he’s been equally busy thanking everyone who helped save his life, said the Royal New Zealand Air Force veteran and former North Shore policeman-turned-inventor of “cool things that will help humanity” - among them the “The Intensifire”, a retro-fit device aimed at making old woodburners more efficient.
“After extensive testing, it looks like my heart is in pretty good order for an old bugger.
“Which really goes to show I was worth saving, as I’ve got plenty left in me.”
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Cherie Howie is an Auckland-based reporter who joined the Herald in 2011. She has been a journalist for more than 20 years.
