Cardiff family search for CPR hero who saved man's life

A passer-by saved a man's life by administering CPR on him for five minutes after he had a cardiac arrest and collapsed.

This kept blood flowing around 55-year-old Bobby Gamlin's body until paramedics arrived - but his family were still told to expect the worst.

However, after two weeks in intensive care, Mr Gamlin, from Roath, Cardiff, is set to be moved to a cardiac ward.

His family want to find the man who helped to thank him.

Mr Gamlin's sister Mary Taylor believes he is the reason "my brother is still here" and her appeal to find him has been shared more than 700 times on Facebook.

"He (Bobby) had died. And wouldn't be here if it wasn't for him keeping the blood around his body until the ambulance arrived," she said.

"They took him to the Heath (University Hospital of Wales), and it took them an hour to get him back (breathing).

"But that man showed so much bravery, definitely in these unprecedented times with Covid, to go straight to a stranger, to be that brave. There are no words."

Father-of-one and grandfather-of-two Mr Gamlin had been shopping on Albany Road in Roath with a friend on 11 February when he started feeling dizzy.

But as he went to sit down on benches, he collapsed into the plant pots, Mrs Taylor said.

"His friend panicked, but a man passing with his girlfriend said 'I know CPR, do you mind?' and pulled him onto the floor as someone else called an ambulance," she added.

"It's so easy to not know what to do, so I dread what to think would have happened if he wasn't there."

The ambulance arrived in about five minutes - but Mr Gamlin had stopped breathing and the man battled alone to keep blood circulating around his body until paramedics could take over.

Even so, after being taken to the city's University Hospital of Wales, it took doctors an hour to get him breathing, with his family told by doctors to expect the worst.

Mrs Taylor said relatives, who were unable to visit because of Covid restrictions, were informed Mr Gamlin could be left with brain damage or may not even make it, as he was treated in intensive care.

"He has confounded everyone, they didn't expect him to live," Mrs Taylor added.

"He will probably need surgery but compared to before, he is now sat in a chair and could eat a meal and drink himself yesterday - he was fed by a tube before.

"He is also able to send messages on his phone now."

Mr Gamlin is set to leave intensive care for a cardiac ward on Thursday, and Mrs Taylor wants to find the man, in his 20s, who saved him, saying "we owe him everything".

The Welsh Ambulance Service did not comment on the specific case but said "time is always of the essence" when dealing with cardiac arrests and urged everyone to learn "these life-saving skills".

Robert Brunnock, manager for Cardiff, said: "When it comes to cardiac arrests, time is always of the essence.

"As an emergency service, our utmost priority will always be to arrive at the scene of an incident as quickly as possible.

"However, the earlier CPR is performed on a patient suffering from cardiac arrest, the better."