Cardiac arrest survivor reunites with volunteer who helped save her life
21.08.26
A woman from Tonyrefail has reunited with the Welsh Ambulance Service volunteer who was first on scene after she suffered a cardiac arrest at home.
Jenny Kastrian, 78, who has lived in Tonyrefail with her husband John, 68, since 2023, collapsed at home without warning.
Her husband John, quickly realised that Jenny was in a serious condition and rang 999, where he was connected with emergency call handler, William Funston-Jones, who is based in St Asaph, north Wales.
John recalled: “William was amazing and stayed very calm while he explained how to perform CPR on Jenny, which helped me to really focus on what I needed to do.
“Although it was only a few minutes before help arrived, it felt like forever and I was starting to get very tired from the CPR.
“It was a huge relief when I realised I was no longer on my own, but then it dawned on me that I would have to leave Jenny for a few brief moments while I ran downstairs to open the front door.”
To John’s relief, he opened the door to find volunteer Community First Responder (CFR), Gary Davies MBE.
Gary, who is also based in Tonyrefail, was recently awarded the prestigious Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE), in recognition of an exceptional lifetime dedicated to public safety, emergency response, and community wellbeing.
Gary said: “When I arrived I could see that John was exhausted from performing CPR on Jenny but I had to ask him to go back to her and continue for just a few moments more while I got my kit set up.
“Jenny was at the top of the stairs, meaning access to her was restricted and it was going to be difficult to get her down the stairs and out of the house.
“After some difficulty, I was able to secure Jenny’s airways and attach the defibrillator pads.
“I administered two shocks before further back up arrived in the form of Cymru High Acuity Response Unit Paramedic Alex Morgan, who applied his defibrillator pads whilst I continued with CPR.
“Thankfully, Alex found her to be in a shockable rhythm and after administering one further shock, we managed to get a pulse and a return of spontaneous circulation.”
With the assistance of another crew and specialists from the Emergency Medical Retrieval and Transfer Service (EMRTS), who arrived by air ambulance and teams from South Wales Fire and Rescue Service, Jenny was extricated from her house and taken to hospital.
Gary continued: “I just want to say that although I was first on scene, I can’t take the credit for saving Jenny’s life.
“This was a real team effort with crews from the Welsh Ambulance Service, South Wales Fire and Rescue Service and Wales Air Ambulance all coming together.
“It’s also important to recognise the vital early intervention from John when he gave Jenny CPR and the role of William Funston-Jones, who guided him through the process over the phone.
Jenny, who has since made a remarkable recovery spent several weeks in hospital before being allowed home where she continues to regain her strength.
Jenny said: “I have nothing but tremendous admiration and gratitude to all those who were involved in saving my life.
“I’m still staggered by the sheer amount of people and resources who descended on my home and fought to keep me alive.
“It’s a truly humbling and warming thought to know that there are so many brilliant, skilled and dedicated people out there who do this day in and day out.”