Life After Cardiac Arrest

About Life After Cardiac Arrest

The Life After Cardiac Arrest podcast is hosted by survivor Paul Swindell and is conversations with people who's lives have been affected by a cardiac arrest, whether that be as a patient, partner, life saver or health professional. The podcast aims to give insight, information and hope to any others going through this life changing event. A cardiac arrest is when someone's heart stops beating due to an electrical malfunction, it's different to a heart attack, which is a "plumbing" problem, although many cardiac arrests are caused by a heart attack. Someone in cardiac arrest could be said to be clinically dead, and if no intervention is made they will unfortunately stay that way and die. In the UK only 8% survive this event, and with an estimated 250 taking place each day there is a growing number of survivors. A thriving peer support community - Sudden Cardiac Arrest UK (https://www.suddencardiacarrestuk.org) - has grown out of the need for more information and help for survivors and their families post discharge. The NHS and chain of survival are doing remarkable things in helping people survive but unfortunately the system hasn't yet caught up with the problems that survivors and their families are experiencing after this life changing event. If you have been affected by a Sudden Cardiac Arrest, come and join over a thousand others at: facebook.com/groups/SuddenCardiacArrestUK (facebook.com/groups/SuddenCardiacArrestUK) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy (https://acast.com/privacy) for more information.

Publisher

Paul Swindell

Category

health & fitness · society & culture

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

9 Jun 2019

Latest episode

9 Sept 2026

Latest episodes

66 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   9 Sept 2026

   #065 RescQ Part 2 - Supporting cardiac arrest rescuers with Dr Uzma Sajjad

   Thirteen months after her first appearance, Dr Uzma Sajjad is back. RescQ, the co-survivor support service she leads at the Essex Cardiothoracic Centre with the East of England Ambulance Service, has finished its one-year pilot. The headline: of 432 eligible cardiac arrests in Essex, just over half resulted in someone being offered support, comfortably clearing the feasibility target. Around 300 co-survivors were reached. Twenty-seven of them asked for a personal conversation, and Uzma ended up having each one herself. What she heard in them was not what she expected. In this episode: Why only half, and not all of them? A candid answer about how new ideas do or do not stick in an ambulance service What the paramedics made of it, in their own words Why Uzma refused to use a script, and what happened when she let people lead The question co-survivors ask again and again, and the one answer that brings relief every time The people who saved a life and cannot bear being called a hero How the conversation changes when the patient died, and when the rescuer was a stranger who will never find out The one in ten co-survivors who are under 18, and why there is nothing for them yet The video that is missing from the RescQ website The finding that surprised us both Who should provide this support, and whether it really needs a cardiologist What a year of these conversations cost her, and the phrase a Scottish nurse gave her for it The 2025 Resuscitation Council UK guidelines, which now say offer support, and how far reality is from that What happens to RescQ next Whether "the forgotten patients" is still the right name Our first conversation with Dr Sajjad, recorded when RescQ was three months old: https://suddencardiacarrestuk.org/2025/11/new-podcast-episode-rescq-support-for-the-forgotten-patients-with-dr-uzma-sajjad/ (https://suddencardiacarrestuk.org/2025/11/new-podcast-episode-rescq-support-for-the-forgotten-patients-with-dr-uzma-sajjad/) Did you witness a cardiac arrest, do CPR or make the call? You do not need to be in Essex to get help: https://suddencardiacarrestuk.org/get-support/co-survivors/ (https://suddencardiacarrestuk.org/get-support/co-survivors/) Work for an ambulance service, cardiac network or trust? If you want to know what it would take to bring something like RescQ to your area, email info@scauk.org (mailto:info@scauk.org) and we will connect you with the Essex team. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy (https://acast.com/privacy) for more information.

2. 

   20 Aug 2026

   #064 The girl who died at Christmas with Lucinda Dodd

   Lucinda Dodd was 24, living in London and, by her own account, doing everything right. Then, on the morning of Christmas Eve, she had a cardiac arrest in her sleep. Her mum, a nurse with decades of experience, found her, pulled her onto the floor and gave CPR for fifteen minutes with no response at all. Her 21-year-old brother called 999. Her dad froze. The paramedics shocked her eight times, and on the ninth her heart restarted. They worked on her in the house for over an hour. She woke up on Christmas Day. Most guests on this podcast had a settled life to get back to. Lucinda did not have one yet. In this conversation, she talks about what a cardiac arrest does to a life that has barely started, and about the version of survivorship that nobody has written a leaflet for. We cover: That morning, and why she believes her family suffered more than she did Her brother, who thought she was dead, made the call, and has only recently started talking about it Why co-survivors carry something of their own, and how little the system offers them A diagnosis of "idiopathic", and living without an explanation Two heart medications from your mid-twenties, when nobody has sixty years of data Her S-ICD, which she calls "my box", and how long it took to make peace with it The hospital leaflet promising she would make her grandchild's third birthday, when what she wanted was her 25th Losing her driving licence, finding SCA UK, and being decades younger than anyone else on her ward A month in Canada, a week off-grid in Wells Gray with no phone signal, and the moment she realised she had not thought about it once Who actually sets a survivor's boundaries: you, your clinicians, or the people who love you Writing about it, and why her family's story is not only hers to tell What a space for younger survivors should look like, designed by someone who needed one Lucinda writes at Lucinda's Letters: https://lucindajohannaelizabeth.substack.com (https://lucindajohannaelizabeth.substack.com) Her blog for SCA UK on the Canada trip: https://scauk.org/rUIh (https://scauk.org/rUIh) Content note: this episode includes a detailed account of a cardiac arrest and resuscitation, and touches on bereavement and on some very low moments during recovery. Were you young when it happened to you? We are working out what a space for younger survivors inside SCA UK should look like, and Lucinda is helping us think it through. If you had your cardiac arrest in your twenties or thirties, we would like to hear what you make of it. Email info@scauk.org (mailto:info@scauk.org) with "young survivors" in the subject line. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy (https://acast.com/privacy) for more information.

3. 

   16 Apr 2026

   #063 The state of resuscitation in 2026 with Professor Jerry Nolan

   In this episode, host Paul Swindell reconnects with Professor Jerry Nolan — editor in chief of the journal Resuscitation and a leading figure in resuscitation science — six years after their first conversation. Together, they explore how survival rates have plateaued amid changing patient demographics, the impact of COVID-19 on cardiac arrest outcomes, and the massive collaborative effort behind the 2025 ERC guidelines, which for the first time formally included patient and co-survivor involvement. They discuss key changes, including the redesigned Chain of Survival — now featuring a dedicated survivorship ring — the shift away from routine cooling after cardiac arrest, advances in prognostication that can now predict good outcomes (not just poor ones), and the emerging role of AI in everything from analysing 999 calls to streamlining guideline development. Professor Nolan also shares his views on genetic screening for younger cardiac arrest survivors, the growing recognition of co-survivors and the psychological toll on bystanders, and why the evidence base for post-arrest rehabilitation remains frustratingly thin despite widespread acknowledgement of the need. A wide-ranging and honest conversation about where resuscitation science stands today — and what still needs to change. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy (https://acast.com/privacy) for more information.

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Apple Podcasts (US)

4.7 / 5

6 ratings

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