Most people’s instinct, when a heart stops and the minutes drag on, is that it’s over. Ten minutes without a pulse and surely there’s no coming back. Except sometimes there is — and one recent Western Australian rescue is a powerful reminder of why you should never, ever stop.
It took more than 30 minutes of CPR and 14 defibrillator shocks to bring one grandfather back — because the people around him refused to give up, and because his granddaughter knew exactly what to do.
What happened: a 30-minute fight for a life
In January, 79-year-old Jim Webb collapsed at home. His wife, Sue, phoned their granddaughter, Jeannie Poletti — a Geraldton nurse and volunteer ambulance officer — who was at her mother’s house at the time. As PerthNow reported, she didn’t hesitate: she called an ambulance and drove straight to her grandparents’ place.
“When we got there, he was just sitting up in his chair. He didn’t have very good colour, and had a really poor respiratory effort,” Jeannie recalled. “I just got him onto the floor and started CPR straight away.” He was already on home oxygen, so she kept that on and continued chest compressions — with a Triple Zero call-taker calmly talking her through it — until the ambulance crew arrived, in under ten minutes.
From there, paramedics worked on Jim for more than half an hour, continuing CPR and delivering shock after shock. In all, he was defibrillated 14 times — on scene and on the way to hospital — because his pulse kept slipping away. By the time they reached the emergency department, they finally had him back.
Only about one in ten people survive an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest, which is exactly why those first minutes of bystander CPR are so decisive — the compressions Jeannie did before the crew arrived were critical to the outcome. Today, with an implantable defibrillator now guarding his heart, Jim is back home on the family farm feeding the chickens, surrounded by his 11 grandchildren and 28 great-grandchildren. Jeannie was later honoured for her part in it. “It is a magnificent thought that I am still here,” Jim said.
Heart attack or cardiac arrest? Why CPR and shocks were needed
The two get used interchangeably, but they are not the same thing. A heart attack is a plumbing problem — a blocked artery starves part of the heart of blood. The person is usually awake, often with chest pain. A cardiac arrest is an electrical problem — the heart’s rhythm collapses and it stops pumping. The person drops, stops breathing normally, and has no pulse.
A heart attack can trigger a cardiac arrest, which is what happened to Jim. And that is the crucial distinction: you treat a cardiac arrest with CPR and a defibrillator, right now, because every second the heart isn’t pumping, the brain is starved of oxygen. (If you want the recognition and first aid for a heart attack itself, our guide on how to treat a heart attack covers it.)
The lesson in those 30 minutes: never stop
Here’s the part worth tattooing on the brain of every first aider: you keep going. It is a common and dangerous myth that after a few minutes of CPR there’s no point. The Australian Resuscitation Council’s CPR guidance is clear that you continue resuscitation until professional help takes over, the person recovers, or it becomes physically impossible to carry on.
Thirty-plus minutes of good-quality CPR is exhausting, and frankly most people would have stopped long before. But high-quality compressions keep just enough oxygenated blood moving to the brain and heart to keep survival on the table — sometimes, as with Jim, well beyond the point most would assume is hopeless. The rescuers who don’t quit are the reason survival stories exist.
Why it took 14 shocks — and why defibrillation matters
Fourteen shocks sounds like a lot, and it is — but it makes sense. A defibrillator only shocks a heart in a specific chaotic rhythm (ventricular fibrillation), and after a heart attack that rhythm can keep returning. Each shock is an attempt to reset the heart back to a normal beat; when it slips back into chaos, you shock again. That’s why the defibrillator does the deciding — it reads the rhythm and only delivers a shock when one will help.
The takeaway for the rest of us: early defibrillation saves lives, and public-access defibrillators (AEDs) are now in shopping centres, gyms, clubs and sporting grounds precisely so a bystander can use one in those first critical minutes. They are designed to talk you through it, step by step, so you cannot get it wrong. Knowing how to find the nearest AED is worth a few minutes of anyone’s time.
The bystander who stepped in
The other quiet hero in every story like this is the bystander — the person on the scene who starts CPR before the ambulance arrives. In Jim’s case that person happened to be a nurse, but here is the important bit: you do not need to be one. Bystander CPR can double or triple a person’s chance of survival, and for every minute that passes without it, the odds fall by roughly ten percent.
Most cardiac arrests happen at home or in public, in front of family, friends or strangers — not in a hospital. Which means the person most likely to save a life isn’t a paramedic. It’s whoever is standing there. Ordinary people who’ve done a couple of hours of CPR training are the difference between a tragedy and a survival story.
Would you know what to do?
It’s an uncomfortable question, and an important one. If someone collapsed in front of you right now — a partner, a parent, a customer — would your hands know what to do while you wait those eight long minutes for an ambulance? For most people the honest answer is “not really, not confidently.” The good news is that it’s fixable in an afternoon.
Our nationally recognised Provide CPR course teaches you exactly what Jeannie did — effective chest compressions, rescue breaths, and how to use an AED — with hands-on practice on manikins until it’s second nature. We run it regularly as the CPR course in Port Macquarie and the CPR course in Taree, and it takes just a few hours.
Be the person who knows what to do
Stories like Jim’s are inspiring, but they’re also a nudge: the next person who needs CPR might be standing next to you. A few hours now could be the reason someone’s grandfather, or yours, gets a second chance.
Enrol in an upcoming CPR course in Port Macquarie or Taree, check our upcoming course dates, or request group or onsite training for your workplace or club. It might be the most useful afternoon you ever spend.
Frequently asked questions
Can someone really survive after 30 minutes of CPR?
Yes. While survival becomes less likely as time passes, people do survive prolonged resuscitation — particularly with high-quality, continuous CPR and early defibrillation for a shockable rhythm. Guidelines say to keep going until help arrives or the person recovers; stopping too early removes any chance.
What’s the difference between a heart attack and a cardiac arrest?
A heart attack is a blocked artery (a circulation problem); the person is usually conscious. A cardiac arrest is an electrical failure where the heart stops pumping; the person is unresponsive and not breathing normally, and needs CPR and a defibrillator immediately. A heart attack can cause a cardiac arrest.
Do I need training to do CPR or use a defibrillator?
You can attempt CPR without formal training, and an AED will talk you through every step. But a short course builds the confidence and muscle memory to act fast and effectively under pressure — which is when it counts.
Where can I learn CPR on the Mid North Coast?
Coastal First Aid runs regular CPR courses in Port Macquarie and Taree, and delivers onsite group training for workplaces, clubs and community groups across the region.
