Jamie Bell has suffered from asthma for his whole life but his heart stopped for four minutes after an attack.
A Scots dad suffered a serious asthma attack that caused him to be put into a medically induced coma. Jamie Bell, 40, has suffered from the condition his whole life and regularly used his blue inhaler when he felt wheezy during the summer months when pollen became a trigger.
The East Lothian dad ended up in hospital in July 2021 after his heart stopped for four minutes and suffered two cardiac arrests after his asthma struggles took a turn for the worst, reports Edinburgh Live. Jamie had around six broken ribs and a fractured sternum from the CPR.
He had never suffered from an asthma attack before and claims he had never “properly been taught” about the severities of the condition and how it could be controlled. The dad regularly relied on his emergency inhaler and wasn’t taking anything preventative.
Five years on, he is hoping to spread awareness on the importance of learning about asthma and says it has “changed his perspective” on the condition.
He said: “I’ve had asthma for as long as I can remember and I’ve just always carried a blue inhaler around with me. I had never had an asthma attack before but my trigger was always hay fever.
“My breathing would become a little bit more difficult in the summer months whenever my hay fever was bad. It all happened when we were celebrating my son’s first birthday and I had been feeling really wheezy throughout the day but I just put it down to it being that time of year.
“We were down in Bath and the pollen is completely different down there and it had a big effect on me. I felt really tight chested. At around 6.30am in the morning, I woke my wife up and decided to get fresh air because I was really struggling to breathe.
“I then started to feel light headed and couldn’t get much breath at all. I then started getting really dizzy and I could feel myself slipping out of consciousness. My father-in-law was holding me up because my legs went.
“I saw the ambulance coming down the driveway and that was the last thing I remember. My heart stopped for four minutes and they performed CPR.
“This was all in front of my family so it was quite traumatic for them too. I then woke up from my coma at Bath hospital.”
Jamie added he has learned more about asthma following the incident and he continues to try and increase his knowledge about the condition.
“The doctors were absolutely incredible and I learned more about asthma in those few days in the hospital than I ever had before”, he said.
“It was a bit of a recovery process after that and it was crazy to me how it was such a simple fix. Literally just a puff of an inhaler every night and every morning, could have prevented this from happening.
“I did get survivors guilt a little bit because I had two cardiac arrests, and not many people come back from that.”
Jamie is now preparing to take on the Edinburgh Marathon in May and says he “doesn’t really have a problem with asthma anymore.”
He added: “As time has gone on, the anxiety has lessened and i’m feeling fitter than I did 10 years ago when I was mis-managing my asthma and being over prescribed the reliever inhaler.
“My asthma will never really go away but as long as I’m keeping control of it and managing it, I should be okay. I am sticking to my running plan for the marathon and I am feeling good. I’m out running three or four times a week so I hope that I’ll be ready for May.”
Jamie is fundraising for Asthma + Lung UK and wrote on the fundraiser page: “When I eventually started running again, it wasn’t straightforward. Even as my body got stronger, my mind held me back. I reached a point where I physically could go further but mentally, the fear of becoming breathless wouldn’t let me push past it. Every hard breath reminded me of what I’d been through.
“Running this marathon almost five years on is about more than the distance. It’s about facing that fear head-on and proving to myself and to anyone living with asthma that it doesn’t have to define or limit what you can or can’t do. It’s taken years to get to this point, and every mile represents resilience, recovery, and determination.
“Asthma + Lung UK supports life-saving research, provides vital support for people living with lung conditions, and works to ensure no one has to face breathing problems alone. By sponsoring me, you’re helping to fund research, improve treatment, and support others who may be at the very start of a journey like mine.
“Thank you so much for any support, whether that’s a donation, a share, or words of encouragement, it’s much appreciated.”
You can donate to the fundraiser here.
