Saturday 8 November
The first Saturday of the Jupiters Pan Pacific Masters Games began without a hitch.
All sports had commenced as planned and the biggest competition of the Games, softball, was well underway with over 2000 participants heading to watch and size up the field.
Dion Mumford from the Allsorts started his day like any other, excited to get into competition and ready to help take his team all the way to the gold medal round. That was until suddenly, after the second innings, he started to feel a little under the weather.
As the coach called for him to retake the field, Dion held up his hand to let the coach know that he would need to sit this one out.
“I felt sick, that’s about it,” he explained.
“I had a little bit of pain in my chest, but mostly I just thought I was going to be sick so I thought I would head towards the medical guys and just get myself checked.”
As Dion approached the Sports Medicine Australia (SMA) team his legs buckled under him and he collapsed to the ground mere meters from them.
The SMA team flew straight into action and ran to assist.
Dion was lucky that on that particular day Emergency Medial Technician Gregory Bath PhD was on duty and could attend to him so quickly.
“By the time I reached him, only about 10 seconds I would think, I could tell he wasn’t well,” Bath explained.
“At first I thought it was severe dehydration, but once that ECG machine went onto his chest we knew that is was far more serious, his reading was catastrophic.”
Dion had gone into cardiac arrest and only help from a defibrillator to jumpstart his heart would save him.
Bath sprang into action and within a minute Dion’s heart was back beating and the ambulance was on its way.
Surprisingly Dion was able to talk to Bath and his team and answer simple questions once he regained consciousness.
Whilst not out of the woods completely, the SMA team had revived Dion and his prognosis was looking far better than it had a mere three minutes earlier.
“I would most definitely not be here today talking to you if Greg and his team were not here, I absolutely owe my life to these guys,” Dion praised.
“I was a healthy 42-year-old man, no former issues with my heart and absolutely no sign of anything wrong right up until 15 minutes before I had a heart attack.
“It was swift, unexpected and completely shocking, I just really wanted to come back today to thank them wholeheartedly for saving my life, and I really do owe them”.
Dion and Greg met up this morning for the first time since his admittance to hospital and the placement of a stent into an artery in his heart.
To look at Dion today the only sign of the trauma he has been through are some bruised ribs from the pressure of chest compressions, and, the facts of the story still shocking both him and his wife.
His smile masks the extreme blow and unimaginable fear that both he and his wife experienced. The reunion between Dion and the SMA team was an event that will never be forgotten by those around them.
Both men started with a shake of the hand that soon turned into a warm embrace for each other, along with the other SMA team members, as tears and thanks flowed.
“This is why we do it”, Greg explained.
“To know that I saved a man’s life is humbling, but to see him up and around laughing and joking just six days later is just something else, this is the only reward I need to see.
“Now we just have to find him his accreditation – he really wants to go to the closing ceremony tonight, but the ambos cut all of his accreditation and his uniform off him on the way to hospital and we haven’t been able to find them”.
This story also serves as a colossal and hearty thank you to all of the Sports Medicine Australia staff who have looked after all of our athletes medical emergencies.
From dislocated thumbs through to broken bones and now heart attacks, they have been the lifesavers of these Games and all competitors, spectators and organisers would like say a very big thank you for your dedication and work across these games.
And as for Dion…he plans on heading to the Gold Coast Convention and Exhibition Centre tonight, with his newly replaced accreditation, to catch up with his team and see out the last night of the Jupiters Pan Pacific Masters Games the way they had all originally planned. Although somewhat quieter than he had first imagined.
The new system was born here and filagra this is not something that we would like to see. Caverta whilst better in some elements but not important for us.
