Cambridgeshire teenager’s emotional thanks to medics who saved her life after cancer caused cardiac arrest

At just 18 years old, everything changed for Alice Lunn on March 10 2019, when she was left in a critical condition. Her life was saved by Magpas and ambulance medics, and today, exactly one year after the medical emergency, Alice met up with the team to say thanks.

Alice said: “My sister heard me struggling to breathe in the night. When she checked on me, my skin was grey. She instantly got me downstairs to mum and dad who called 999 - it was then that I stopped breathing completely.”

Alice’s dad, James, said: “It all happened so fast. The paramedics from the East of England ambulance service were with us within minutes and as soon as they reached the door they took one look at Alice, dumped their bags and started CPR.”

The Magpas Air Ambulance medical team, who are specially trained to deal with life-threatening emergencies, swiftly followed, and James said: “I can still remember hearing the machines beeping and being so worried that at any second they could walk out of our kitchen and say she wasn’t alive anymore.

Thankfully, that wasn’t the case. The East of England Ambulance Service (EEAST) had done an incredible job of restarting Alice’s heart, but following her second cardiac arrest Magpas Air Ambulance had to utilise their advanced medical skills. In the kitchen of her home in Godmanchester, they placed Alice under general anaesthetic and performed surgical procedures to take over her breathing and try to stabilise her condition (treatments usually only available in a hospital). One of which involved making a small incision in the side of Alice’s chest; it was at this point that Magpas Critical Care Paramedic Dan, with his extensive knowledge and experience; recognised that something was seriously wrong.

Working together, Magpas Air Ambulance and EEAST and got Alice to hospital. It was then the true cause of Alice’s respiratory arrests came to light.

It transpired Alice had a tumour in her chest cavity that had grown so big it had blocked her airway and crushed her lung. Alice went straight in for surgery and spent the next few months in a serious condition at Royal Papworth and Addenbrooke’s Hospitals where they helped her to breathe on her own again and completed the cancer treatment for the Lymphoma she was diagnosed with.

Thanks to the immediate response of EEAST, the expert knowledge and care Magpas Air Ambulance provided and the specialist treatment from both hospitals, Alice has made a near full recovery. She said: “I’m now in remission – and considering everything I’ve been through though I’m doing really well! I’m about to sit the last of my A-levels and hoping to go to Birmingham University later this year.”

To help celebrate Alice’s fantastic recovery, she and her father James visited the Magpas Air Ambulance Operations Base to meet the group of people who epitomised the word ‘teamwork’ on the night of Alice’s respiratory arrest and saved her life.

With so many important questions to ask, she spoke to EEAST Ambulance Service paramedic crew Adam Bright, Napoleon Georgoulias and Charlie Harris - as well as the Magpas Air Ambulance enhanced medics, Doctor Rupert Hurry and Critical Care Paramedic Dan Read - all of whom were able to shine a light on what happened on the night of the 10th March 2019.

Alice said: “It was so good to meet and thank them all. I mean, you can’t really thank them, not enough for what they did, but it was good to finally say it.”

Magpas Air Ambulance Critical Care Paramedic Dan Read said he was delighted with the outcome one year on. He said: “I could not be happier with how well Alice has recovered! It was one of the more challenging cases of my career and one I will remember forever. I sincerely wish Alice and her family all the best for the future and am thrilled that she can look forward to a full and exciting life.”

Adam Bright, Leading Operations Manager for North Cambridgeshire at EEAST, said: “This was a real team effort, from the initial actions by our crew to the advanced interventions by the Magpas Air Ambulance team and subsequent specialist treatment at hospital. It was a job we will never forget.

“As far as jobs go, this was emotive and upsetting for all who attended. But in terms of outcomes, it doesn’t get any better – and this is the reason we do what we do!”

James added: “It was wonderful to say to all these medics and to know that as a result of the brilliant work they did, here’s my daughter Alice, she’s alive and doing really well. We’re very lucky to have these incredible services on our doorstep.

“Of course I knew the role of the ambulance crew and I was really, really pleased they were able to get there quickly and start the CPR.

“The thing I’ve since learnt and fully appreciate is the added skills and the added value of the Magpas Air Ambulance medical team. For this charity’s team to come with their advanced skills, meant that they were able to provide some surgical procedures and really stabilise Alice right there in our house, which would have definitely saved time and quite possibly saved her life.”

For more information about Magpas, or to support the charity so they can help save more lives, visit www.magpas.org.uk/