A woman who went without sufficient oxygen for 10 hours after suffering a cardiac arrest was left with a brain injury but has made a remarkable recovery.
Hannah McGarvey, 28, began to feel "chesty" in November 2023 and started coughing up phlegm. On Friday 3, 2023, Hannah fell asleep on the sofa at around midnight and while asleep went into cardiac arrest. The following morning at 10am, Hannah's mum, Helen, 59, came home after her daughter in law called her and found her unresponsive - performing CPR until the ambulance arrived.
Hannah was blue-lighted to Causeway Hospital, Coleraine, Northern Ireland, where medics performed a CT scan which showed nothing abnormal. She was then transported to the Royal Victoria Hospital, Belfast, where she had multiple MRI scans and an EEG - to record brain activity.
The results showed Hannah had a hypoxic brain injury - which usually forms due to a restriction on the oxygen being supplied to the brain. Doctors told Hannah's family they had done everything they could and they should say their goodbye's. Once they turned the ventilator off, Hannah miraculously regained consciousness and went from "strength to strength" and was back up walking within a week.
Hannah when she was seriously ill in hospital (Helen McGarvey/SWNS)
Hannah's family were told to prepare for the worst (Helen McGarvey/SWNS)Hannah, an intensive care nurse, from Port Stewart, Northern Ireland, said: "I have been really lucky, I haven't had any lasting health problems. The thought is that the infection I had got really bad overnight. As an intensive care nurse, that is not out of the realm of possibility.
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"People go to sleep fine and then get really poorly. I was really lucky that my mum started CPR when she did - they suspect my brain could have been without oxygen for 10 hours. The paramedics say if my mum didn't do CPR then I would not be alive today." Hannah started experiencing a chest infection around Halloween in 2023.
She said if the infection got worse she would go to the doctors, but after falling asleep on November 3, Hannah went into cardiac arrest - when the heart stops beating suddenly. Hannah said: "I fell asleep on my sofa where my brother's girlfriend, Megan, 20, and called my mum.
Hannah has now made a full recovery (Hannah McGarvey/SWNS)
Hannah is now back in the gym after recovering (Helen McGarvey/SWNS)"My mum came back, checked my pulse and there wasn't one. She dragged me on the floor and started CPR while my brother, Ryan, 20, phoned the ambulance." The ambulance crew continued CPR in the ambulance and Hannah was taken to Causeway Hospital, Coleraine, Northern Ireland, where she was put on a ventilator.
Doctors decided Hannah would need an MRI scan to check her brain activity so they sent her to Royal Victoria Hospital, Belfast. Once Hannah arrived, she had a blood test and three MRI scans. She said: "Each time I had an MRI my results were different. I was seen by 12 different consultants in the end.
"They did some more scans and determined I had a hypoxic brain injury and estimate my brain could have been without oxygen for 10 hours." Doctors told Hannah's mum the best case scenario would be she would live and need round-the-clock care. After working on the front lines in hospital during the pandemic, Hannah had a written will which stated if she was not going to be able to function at more than 70 per cent she didn't want any treatment.
Hannah fell asleep on the sofa but then went into cardiac arrest (Livi McCullagh/SWNS)Hannah said: "The written will is not legally binding but that helped my mum and family be able to advocate for me. It got to the point where they said they had done everything they could for me and they were going to take me off the ventilator. My mum, family and all my friends said their goodbyes to me.
"I have no memory of it, it traumatised a lot of them." Once they took Hannah off the ventilator, she started breathing on her own. Hannah said she went on a "upward trajectory" and was walking within a week of having her life support turned off. She said: "In the last week of November they took my off the ventilator and I went from strength to strength.
"Within a week I was walking again, we couldn't believe it." Hannah then underwent weeks of physiotherapy before she was transported back to Causeway Hospital. On December 21, 2023, Hannah was discharged from hospital and able to go home. She said: "I was so excited to go home. It was such an amazing feeling.
Hannah McGarvey (right) with friends (Charlie Buchanan/SWNS)"The first thing I did was get into the shower, wash my hair and shave my legs. After that, I put fake tan on - I felt like myself again." Originally, Hannah struggled with her short-term memory and was unable to remember passwords and the names of her dogs. Eight months on, Hannah is back at the gym and back running again.
Remarkably, Hannah has no serious long lasting effects from the cardiac arrest or brain injury but she does struggle with her balance and coordination from time to time. She has also returned to work as a nurse but is on non-clinical duties for the time being. She said: "It was really frustrating at first, even simple things such as walking up and down the stairs, putting socks on and tying my shoelaces was really challenging.
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"I found with persistence and practice I got better but there are still things in the gym that I didn't struggle with before that seem almost impossible now like handstands and box jumps. I have also lost some hearing in my left ear but I will take that for being alive."
Hannah McGarvey with her mum Helen and her sister, Abigail (Louis Glavin/SWNS)Hannah is training to run the Cardiff half marathon on October 6, 2024, to raise money for Headway - the brain injury association. Visit the JustGiving page here. Pascale Harvie, president and general manager of JustGiving, said: "We are so inspired by Hannah and her commitment to support Headway, an incredible charity that she herself was supported by just a few months ago.
"What Hannah has been through is utterly terrifying, which is what makes her positive attitude and her drive to do good so admirable. From everyone at JustGiving, we wish Hannah the very best of luck at the Principality Cardiff Half Marathon."
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