DAVID Croggon finally got to eat his sandwich at Barnsley Interchange this week - nearly three months after he suffered a heart attack at the town centre transport hub’s Subway store.
The 72-year-old, who lives in Stocksbridge, entered the venue on Tuesday for the first time since his ordeal and spoke to members of staff whose quick-thinking helped save his life.
David spent a whole week in hospital after he suffered the heart attack back in June, but he says he’s nearly at 100 per cent and has already been walking on the Trans Pennine Trail since.
He told the Chronicle: “I remember going into the bus station with the intention of having something to eat and then going to the Trans Pennine Trail for a walk before going to the supermarket and going home - in the end I didn’t end up getting home until seven days later.
“When I was queuing up for a Subway sandwich I felt alright and like there wasn’t anything wrong with me at all - the next thing I knew I was waking up in the hospital but even then I still felt fine, it was all quite strange.
“The doctors told me that I had had a heart attack which was really difficult to believe for me.”
David then spent seven days in hospital, the first of which was in Barnsley before being transferred to Sheffield, and he says he’s extremely grateful for the staff at Barnsley Interchange and the hospitals.
“I’m enormously grateful for everything the staff and nurses did - those at the bus station played it down as if it was all in a day’s work,” he added.
“I first went to Barnsley Hospital and I was there for a day before being transferred to Sheffield for treatment - I’m recovering really well now and I’m nearly at that stage where I’m back to full health.”
The avid walker went back to the site of his heart attack this week, something that he admits was a weird experience for him, though he was glad he could speak to those that helped save his life.
“I went in on Tuesday and I let the staff know what had happened because they didn’t know that I was still alive - it was amazing to speak to them,” he added.
“It really does make you think, the last time I was there I didn’t end up walking out - this time I managed to finish my sandwich and my coffee.
“I just wanted to let people know the outcome of what happened, I’m doing well now and I know a lot of people like a happy ending - I hope this is that.”
David’s life was saved by two Barnsley Interchange employees - 60-year-old Dennis Baker, of Darton, and 42-year-old Yvonne Wilson, of Castle Street, Worsbrough Common.
Dennis, who has been working as a customer service ambassador at the transport hub for nearly 14 years, was alerted to the situation by members of staff at Subway before providing mouth-to-mouth and applying compressions to David.
He said: “I saw David and he was really purple, slumped up against the wall, and I quickly put him into the correct position but there was no pulse.
“I gave him compressions and Yvonne shocked him with the defibrillator three times, but before the third time I had to administer mouth-to-mouth and that’s when we first got a pulse.
“The ambulance arrived in 12 minutes and that was the last we saw of him until Tuesday when he told us the doctors said that we saved his life with our quick thinking - if we’d have been two minutes later he would have died.
“It was really nice to see and speak to him - it makes us feel good now we know he’s still alive.”
