A GP PRACTICE manager who suffered multiple heart attacks within the space of three hours is set to run the Cardiff Half Marathon in aid of Wales Air Ambulance.
Matthew Haynes, from Porthcawl, says he feels incredibly lucky to have been given ‘a second chance’ and to have got the lifesaving care he received.
He said: “The stats for survival from a heart attack outside of hospital, are quite shocking. Only around on in ten people survive.
“I am so fortunate to have received the help I got; I realise it could have been very different.”
Matthew is a keen runner, and most weekends you will find him taking part in a park run. The 3rd of June 2023 was no different, he got up, had breakfast, and made his way to meet his friends in Porthcawl.
The 50-year-old said: “I was walking towards the start line and just as the referee blew the whistle, I felt unwell, nauseous, so much so, I couldn’t face running.
“I stepped aside and waited for the crowd to run past me. One of my colleagues, Dr Maria Cronjé who is a good friend, spotted that I wasn’t running and asked if I was ok. I said, I was fine and walked back to the car.
“But as soon as I got to my vehicle, I was sick on the floor. I decided to drive home, but looking back, I don’t think that was the most sensible thing to do really.
“As soon as I got in my house, I phoned the ambulance, and they said it would be around half an hour.”
Matthew made the decision to call his colleague Dr Cronjé, with the intent of leaving a voice message to let her know what had happened. Luckily, she picked up.
He said: “As soon as I told her how I was feeling, she said she was coming over. So, I decided to cancel the ambulance, as working in the NHS I am so aware of how busy they are.
“But whilst I was waiting for Maria to arrive, I started to feel unwell again and called 999, that is when Maria, her husband who is a paramedic and Julian her brother arrived.
“They also contacted another colleague whose husband, a first responder brought a defibrillator.”
Matthew was experiencing cardiac arrest and says he ‘experienced pain like nothing else’ in his hand.
He continued: “I suffered several cardiac arrests and most of what was going on is a blur. Except for the arrival of the ambulance and then the air ambulance, which landed in a field near my house.
“I was on my lounge carpet at this point, and they just all came in and took over. They were so calm and knew what they were doing and that reassured me, so I just let them take over, placed my trust in them.”
Matthew was transported to hospital by road ambulance, with clinicians from Wales Air Ambulance accompanying him to Morriston Hospital in Swansea.
The Wales Air Ambulance is consultant-led, taking hospital-standard treatments to the patient and, if required, transferring them directly to the most appropriate hospital for their illness or injury.
It is delivered via a unique third sector and public sector partnership. The Wales Air Ambulance Charity relies on public donations to raise the £11.2 million required every year to keep the helicopters in the air and rapid response vehicles on the road.
The Emergency Medical Retrieval and Transfer Service (EMRTS) supplies highly skilled NHS consultants and critical care practitioners who work on board the Charity’s vehicles.
This advanced critical care includes the ability to administer anaesthesia, deliver blood transfusions and conduct minor operations, all at the scene of an incident.
As a pan-Wales service, its dedicated crews, regardless of where they are based, will travel the length and breadth of the country to deliver emergency critical care.
Matthew says it’s ‘an incredible service’ and he wants to ‘give back’ for the ‘fantastic care’ he received.
He said: “I spent a few days in Morriston Hospital’s High Dependency Unit after having stents fitted and felt well, straight after that, which was amazing.
“Then I was transferred to the Princess of Wales Hospital in Bridgend, before being discharged.”
Matthew continued: “I was off work for around three or four weeks, to recuperate. When I did return it was part-time for around three months and then I came back full-time.
“I just love my job, because there is a big social aspect to it, my colleagues are great and I like helping people, so it felt great when life went back to normal.”
Within a few months, he was able to start focusing on building up his fitness levels once again and built up the confidence to start running again.
He said: “When you go through something like that, it does make you reassess your lifestyle. I am more mindful of what I am eating these days, but I still like to go out too.
“I love running, but when I get tired, I just go with my body much more, I am trying to knock that competitive aspect out of me.”
Matthew regularly does 10K runs but has decided to take on a bigger challenge in aid of Wales Air Ambulance in October.
He said: “I am currently in training, but I am finding it hard to build up the distance. I’ve set myself a target, but at the end of the day, I just want to finish the race, so I am not focusing on personal bests.”
He added: “My colleague Maria is going to be joining me for the Cardiff Half and is also fundraising for the Wales Air Ambulance, so it will be a special day and my way of saying thank you for the amazing work that the Wales Air Ambulance does.”
Matthew hopes to raise around £1,000 for Wales Air Ambulance and has set up a https://cardiffhalf25.enthuse.com/pf/matthew-haynes page.
He said: “Crossing the finish line in Cardiff will be my way of saying thank you. Not just to the Wales Air Ambulance, but to everyone who helped save my life.”
Christian Sullivan, Regional Fundraising Manager for South Wales Central said: “It’s such a relief to know that Matthew has made such a great recovery from what must have been a very traumatic experience.
“We are so grateful that he has chosen to fundraise for Wales Air Ambulance for his first half marathon back, since undergoing surgery.
“Our team is always blown away by the kindness of our past patients who are so thoughtful after facing the toughest time of their lives.
“Fundraisers like this are incredibly important to our service with every pound raised helping save lives.”
