Teenager saves dad with CPR he taught her as a child
A teenager saved her father's life thanks to CPR he taught her as a child.
Rich Atherton, 48, suffered a cardiac arrest and collapsed in the family home in Gloucester last year. Scarlett Atherton, 17, said her father "was dead" and "blue in the face" before she and her friend called 999 and dragged him onto the floor and began resuscitating him. The pair have received awards for their actions from the South West Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust (SWAST). Mr Atherton, who is a paramedic himself, had been working out in his garage gym last May when he began to feel ill. His daughter said he complained about feeling unwell and when she returned from getting him a drink "he was dead". "Eyes rolled back and completely blue in the face," she said. "We dragged him on to the floor and I knew how to do [CPR]." She said the 999 call handler counted out in a rhythm for her to carry out CPR, "but I knew how to do it so I wasn't listening". "He took a few gasps of breath and the ambulance got here so quick and they took over." Mr Atherton said teaching his daughter how to deliver CPR when she was a child was the "best decision". "If we hadn't have taught Scarlett how to do CPR I would not be here... I would be dead," he said. "It's so evident that this works and is the most beneficial thing we can be doing. CPR awareness saves lives." Ms Atherton and her friend Mia Freeman, 17, received chief executive commendations from SWAST at a ceremony on Tuesday evening.