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A woman who suffered cardiac arrest at a public swimming pool has expressed her “extreme thanks” to the young children, a quick-thinking mother and others who helped rescue her.
Two children - believed to be aged under 12 - tried to lift her head out of the water before a mother watching a child’s swimming lesson dove into the water and dragged her to safety.
Emergency services were called to the afternoon water incident at QEII Recreation and Sport Centre in the eastern Christchurch suburb of New Brighton on August 28.
When Wendy was brought to the poolside after her rescue, she was “blue, lifeless” and it was quickly determined that CPR should be performed.
“I’m extremely thankful to all who helped bring me back to life,” she said.
“It wasn’t my time to go.”
Wendy said three of her ribs were broken whilst CPR was being performed.
Penny Snelling had been initially watching her son’s swimming lesson at the centre’s lap pools when she heard another child call out: “Mum, what’s wrong with that lady?”
The Christchurch mother ended up jumping into the waters.
“I looked at the lifeguard and he still hadn’t woken up to the fact,” she told the Herald.
Penny Snelling said the rescue was a case of taking action and dealing with the consequences after.
“So I said ‘screw this’ and took my shoes off - heaven knows why I took my shoes off - I didn’t even say anything to my poor child, I just leapt straight into the pool and dove across my kid’s swimming lessons.”
By the time Snelling reached Wendy, she realised she was “one hundred per cent” under the water.
Reaching over the lane rope, grabbing Wendy under the shoulders and hoisting her on to her own, the mother dragged her across the lanes to the side of the pool.
By this point, the lifeguard was aware of the incident and came to assist with getting Wendy out of the water.
“We got her on to the side and she was blue, totally dead,” said Snelling.
“I’ve never seen anything as close to lifeless. She was limp as anything and totally gone.”
Given her state, Snelling determined CPR would need to be started straight away. So she got to work with compressions, something she’d been trained to do in a life-saving course back in high school.
Snelling was first, then an off-duty nurse took over. Then another member of the public, then another, all taking turns to compress Wendy’s heart and trying to bring back life.
A defibrillator was sourced and used. After six minutes Wendy’s pulse was restored.
Wendy was rushed to the hospital and immediately placed on life support.
