A CARRBROOK man has been hailed a hero after saving the life of a man who suffered a cardiac arrest.
Carl Rogers fell seriously ill in July and collapsed at his motorhome in Stalybridge.
But Community First Responder volunteer (CFR) Andrew rescued him by using a defibrillator and performing CPR.
And when he held a local event aimed at teaching people in the area how to carry out cardiopulmonary resuscitation, they were reunited.
Carl’s wife, Debbie, who made the 999 call when her husband fell ill, remembered that Andrew had introduced himself as a CFR.
She then saw he had posted on the local village Facebook group page about a public event he was attending to teach people CPR and thought she recognised him.
That was confirmed when she saw an interview Andrew did on television.
Carl said: “We went to the event, and we found the stand Andrew was on.
“I felt nervous approaching him but excited as I slowly walked up to him. I introduced myself, he remembered who I was but was obviously surprised to see me.
“He told me that it is not often you get to meet the person you tried to save. We don’t always survive.
“I count myself more than lucky as Andrew performed CPR on me and gave me two shocks with a defibrillator.
“The ambulance crew continued with CPR and gave me a third shock while I was on my way to the hospital.
“If Andrew had not attended within seconds of my wife’s initial call, I have no doubt I would not be here today.
“Hence why it meant the world to myself and my wife to meet him to say thank you. Meeting Andrew absolutely made my day, I felt in awe of meeting ‘my hero’ as I like to call him.”
Andrew, who has been a CFR volunteer for about nine years said: “I was delivering CPR and defibrillator familiarisation sessions at a community event in my home village of Carrbrook.
“I was talking to a member of the public and demonstrating some skills when I looked up as there was a couple standing a fair bit back down the path.
“My initial thought was he looks familiar but couldn’t immediately place him.
“However, as soon as Carl approached and spoke to me, I remembered the last time I saw him. I just said so glad to see you!
“He said, ‘Not half as glad as I am to see you!’”