Sunday 12^th February 2017 was an ordinary Sunday; Charlie had left his family home to do some shopping in Luton town centre when he started to feel lightheaded. He soon began to feel unwell and suddenly began to convulse and stopped breathing.

Charlie had suffered from a Cardiac Arrest which was bought on by an undiagnosed heart condition called Sudden Death Arrhythmia. Charlie had stopped breathing for 18 minutes, and because his brain had been starved of oxygen for 15 minutes longer than medically recommended, his family were told to expect some brain damage, the extent would be unknown until Charlie had fully regained consciousness.

The doctors had concluded that Charlie should be placed into an induced coma and his body temperature was dropped to allow his body and organs to rest from the trauma that he had been through. On Wednesday 15^th February the doctors began to reduce Charlie’s medication again to allow him to slowly come round from his coma, and to everyone’s delight he responded positively. 

After six days in intensive care, Charlie was moved on to a ward, and it was here that he really began to turn a corner. Within a day of him being there he was able to feed himself and was up trying to walk around the ward. Charlie’s determination and drive helped his strength to grow and grow and just two weeks after coming out of Intensive Care Charlie was deemed healthy enough to have his operation to fit an ICD (Implantable Cardioverter Defibulator). The device was placed into Charlie’s chest to assist his heart should another attack take place.

Three months later, and Charlie has made huge improvements with his health, and although he still gets tired, he is definitely well on his way to being back to the old Charlie. His family, friends and even the doctors cannot quite believe how strong Charlie is and how far he has come, to not only survive a Cardiac Arrest of that nature, but to go back to his everyday life within four weeks is a miracle.

Charlie and his family and friends would like to say a huge thank you to the staff at Harefield Hospital. Not only did they give first class treatment to Charlie whilst he was in hospital, but the staff were also nothing but kind and generous to his family, making them all feel well informed and comfortable during the whole ordeal.