Special Christmas After Daughter Saves Her Father’s Life Following Heart Attack
Exclusive – A Hamilton Township families Christmas was that much more special after a daughter saved her father’s life in early December.
“If Deanna wouldn’t have been there that night – I’d be dead,” said 52-year-old Andrew Maloney.
Maloney collapsed at his Halstead Beach Road home just east of Bewdley on December 2 around 9 p.m. just after going to bed.
While everyone else panicked, his daughter Deanna (age 17) kept her cool, phoned 9-1-1 and performed CPR until emergency responders arrived.
Ironically, she had just been trained in cardiopulmonary resuscitation by the Red Cross a few days earlier on November 29 as part of her classes at St. Mary Secondary School in Cobourg.
Andrew Maloney said he went to the Peterborough Regional Health Care Centre the night before (December 1) after not feeling well. They did a number of tests, but nothing showed anything in relation to heart problems.
He was sent home and an appointment was set up with his doctor, approximately one month later.
“He’s a man that does not complain about pain at all,” said Deanna.
The following day, Deanna was at her boyfriends (Jason Linton), but when her mother phoned asking if they wanted to have dinner at the family home she said yes, even though Deanna isn’t fond of Chinese food.
“I wanted to check on him anyway. I called him that day but he was sleeping.”
“We came over and he seemed fine. He was in a lot of pain, but he was able to have a conversation so I figured everything was fine.”
While Deanna and Jason were watching a movie in the basement she heard her parents go upstairs to bed around 9 p.m. Shortly after heard a “thud” on the floor.
At first, Deanna didn’t think anything of it as the family has a large dogs and when it lays down, you can hear it through the house.
It was when Deanna heard a “horrific scream” from her mother she realized something terrible had happened.
“It was a scream I’m never going to forget.”
“Jason and I ran upstairs and my mom was outside screaming for neighbours and everybody to come help.”
Deanna and her brother Dennis kept trying to get their mother to tell them what was wrong, “but she was hysterical.”
The siblings didn’t know what exactly was wrong, but they definitely knew something was very, very wrong and they both had to find out where their father was and if he was ok.
“I went upstairs and saw him laying on the floor,” said Deanna.
“His lips were purple and his eyes were only half closed. I checked for a pulse and couldn’t find anything.”
Her mother had phoned 9-1-1, but was to panicked to tell the operator where they live and what was wrong.
“I spoke to the 9-1-1 operator and said he doesn’t have a pulse and he’s non-responsive. I tried a pressure point where his sternum is, but he just wasn’t responding.”
“I told her I was going to proceed with CPR.”
The time that had elapsed was nearly six minutes and Deanna knew from training that every second counted to keep the heart beating with CPR and fresh oxygen by mouth to mouth for the brain.
“I had to give everyone roles, my bother, Jason, my mom and neighbours who started showing up. My cousin lives beside us so I told him and my brother to keep my mother calm downstairs.”
“She can’t be near, because when she’s screaming I can’t keep count of compressions, I can’t do anything.”
It was approximately 15-minutes from the time Deanna found her father until emergency services arrived.
A firefighter who lives nearby was the first emergency responder on scene and worked on getting Maloney free from the area where he was partially wedged between the wall and bed.
Deanna was doing chest compressions until other emergency services arrived and they relived her.
From there everyone showed up. They shocked him approximately five times with defibrillators before he was transported to Northumberland Hills Hospital which is approximately 25-minutes from the family home.
“At that point he was talking, responsive, but very confused.”
When the ambulance arrived, Maloney wasn’t even removed from the ambulance and he was transferred to Peterborough hospital.
As it turned out, Maloney had a 95% blockage in his right artery and a 40% blockage in his left artery.
A stent was put in to open up the arteries and help carry blood to other parts of the body. Maloney was home from hospital in six days.
The father and daughter had a great relationship before and that has only strengthened.
They even joke about what happened during the emergency.
During the course of performing CPR, Deanna punctured his lung and ended up breaking most of his ribs.
And at times while Deanna was giving mouth to mouth, her father started to regurgitate the Chinese food.
“It was funny because now he brings up a father and daughter bird, so he was just regurgitating his food to feed his young one,” jokes Deanna.
The 17-year-old has applied to a number of colleges for the paramedic program before her father had heart failure.
“I figures if this is what I want to be I have to stay calm. I pushed my emotions back to save his life.”
Looking back, Deanna said if she hadn’t taken the Red Cross CPR course, she wouldn’t have known what to do when her father collapsed.
“I wouldn’t have known to do 30 compressions over his chest.”
“I wouldn’t have known to check for a pulse, I wouldn’t have known, because some people have a shallow pulse. I wouldn’t have known anything.”
The Maloney family is very close, and this Christmas they were all well aware of what would have happened if Deanna had not acted.
Christmas Eve was the first dinner they could all sit at the table and reflect on what happened.
“We all knew.”
“There is a meaning behind everything. This year, dad got me a necklace with a cross on it. I think my necklace was a thank you gift. We’re all very thankful. It certainly made Christmas a lot more special this year.”
Chief Paramedic for Northumberland County Bill Detlor said, “quality cpr and early defibrillation saves lives – learn CPR.”
For more information http://www.heartandstroke.ca/heart and http://www.redcross.ca/training-and-certification
Author: Pete Fisher
Has been a photojournalist for over 30-years and have been honoured to win numerous awards for photography and writing over the years. Best selling author for the book Highway of Heroes - True Patriot Love