Murray Forbes is lucky to be alive after suffering a massive heart attack on the University of British Columbia Okanagan campus in Kelowna back in February 2022.
Forbes is in his 70s, but went back to school to earn an engineering degree.
Fortunately for him there were other students on campus when he became disoriented and suffered a heart attack.
He was found unconscious by a group of students including first-year human kinetics student Marissa Burfield, a member of UBCO’s emergency first responder team.
“I could see people standing around a man lying on the ground,” Burfield says. “I couldn’t really believe it was happening, it was a bit of a shock. But my muscle memory kicked in. You can train so much, but once you’re in a situation, you don’t think—you just move.”
Fellow emergency team member Kim Davarani joined the effort and they quickly determined that Forbes wasn't suffering a seizure.
“People thought it was a seizure, but when I started taking the vitals and checking his circulation, I realized this is no longer a seizure call. This was about to become a very intense call,” says Davarani.
UBCO student Morgan Tucker arrived minutes later.
“We know the statistics—when someone is in cardiac arrest the outcome can be very grim,” says Tucker, senior emergency team member.
The students performed CPR for 22 minutes and used an automated external defibrillator twice to get the patient’s heart beating.
Previously, after suffering two earlier heart attacks, he had signed a do not resuscitate (DNR) form. But on that day, fate took matters out of his hands.
"I’ve always been adamant about DNR because I was afraid I would not be competent if I was resuscitated,” says the 77-year-old. “This time, of course, I was not capable of making any decisions. And it’s a good thing. Those students stepped in and saved my life.”
Forbes has made a full recovery and is now equipped with a pacemaker for his heart condition.
Forbes recently got together with his saviours on the UBCO campus and the students received a letter of commendation by UBCO’s Principal and Deputy Vice-Chancellor Lesley Cormack in a small private ceremony.
“It was like a happy ending and usually there isn’t a happy ending,” says Burfield. “It was so great to see him. He was walking well and was all smiles. I feel that was a cherry on top and it makes you feel it was worth it. For some reason, we were at the right place at the right time and we were trained to do the right thing.”
