“My friends saved my life”

They reached Marzio. They had travelled for 50 kilometres by bike crossing the streets and the woods of Pianbello. It was a demanding hill, that they had already faced many times before, during over 20 years of passion for cycling.

However, that day, on a Saturday of March, something went wrong. Dario (the one in the middle of the picture) sat down near his bike and said “I don’t feel very well”.

“It can probably be something in the digestive system.” His friends of a life time, Ivo and Gianrico, were looking worriedly at him. Suddenly, Dario fell over, blue in the face and unable to answer. “We were desperate and we called the rescue number. Dario was dying.”

They describe the event remembering the tragic situation, “I was terrified,” said Gianrico, “I was crying because Dario was dying. Than, the voice on the phone helped me. In my mind there were the faces of Dario’s mother, father and daughter and I realised I had to do something. That course made at work came to my mind: it had never been useful, until that moment. “

On the phone, in the operating room of the emergency service (118), the healthcare assistant Giuliano started giving instructions: “Put Dario on his back. Uncover his chest: put your hands crossed among his nipples and push with energy. Follow my rhythm, let’s count together: one, two, three, four, five…” And so rapidly to thirty. Then start again: one, two, three, four, five…

At a point in time, in that isolated street in the middle of the wood, a car arrived. Gianrico tells “Silvia, a guardian angel, got out the car and she immediately understood the tragic situation and she helped us. She replaced us during the massage: 60 times each. Then the rescuers arrived.”

For eleven minutes, Dario remained hanging on to life, thanks to the tenacity of his friends, of Silvia and the male nurse, Giuliano, who controlled the situation urging him not to give up: “When we arrived, we took the defibrillator and gave him the shock. The heart restarted. It was weak but it worked. After 12 minutes it had restarted working,” says Matteo, rescuer of SOS Tre Valli.

Dario was then collected from the medical helicopter, where the doctor, Simone Zerbi, completed the work transporting him to the Circolo Hospital, to its hemodynamic department. “When we received him, we freed the vassal that was obstructed. It was lucky that it all took place in this way: in  90 minutes the activity was completely restarted and the neurological and cardiac damage were completely avoided,” said the cardiologist Michael Occhipinti.

Dario does not remember anything about those last moments: “I found myself in the hospital. The day after. I recovered, even if I still have amnesia about what I’ve been through recently. I want to thank all my friends, the operator of 112, the male nurse of 118, the ambulance technicians, the doctor of the helicopter and of cardiology. I’ve been lucky to meet such special people that saved me from death.”

Coincidences but also a net of assistance, experienced and able to answer: “the cardiac message is important in these moments,” explains Guido Garzena, responsible for the 118 of Varese, “Gianrico has overcome fear and he jumped with energy of despair. The phase is delicate: this message allowed oxygen to the brain to not be interrupted. Sure, it only receives a quarter of oxygen but with the timely rescue, you have a good chance to save a life.”

For Dario was an excursion like many: “the previous Saturday I made the same tour alone. I just did the checks to prepare myself to do the Camino de Santiago and it was all right. I was not well in the days before, but I did not think of my heart.”

Dario has now returned to work: he will not go to Santiago but his miracle has already been had.