Dead for 90 minutes: Doctors are left stunned as patient miraculously comes back to life WITHOUT brain damage despite his heart stopping for more than hour
- Alistair Blake fell into cardiac arrest while asleep next to his wife in January 2019
- Melinda Blake began CPR on him before paramedics arrived and took control
- Mr Blake was dead for 90 minutes before he miraculously produced a pulse
- Surgeons unblocked an artery and fitted him with a pacemaker as a precaution
- Doctors are astounded that he suffered no brain damage or physical impairment
- He has a new lease on life, playing tennis and spending time with his family
Doctors have been left stunned after a patient came back to life with no brain damage despite his heart stopping for more than an hour.
Alistair Blake went into cardiac arrest after one of his arteries blocked while sleeping next to his wife Melinda in their Blairgowrie holiday house in Victoria.
Ms Blake woke up to what she thought was her husband snoring at 3am and went to the bathroom before returning to find him blue and unresponsive.
‘I knew he was dying, that we were in trouble and I was on my own down at the beach house,’ she told The Herald Sun.
Ms Blake had completed a refresher course on her first aid training three weeks prior and sprung into action, commencing CPR on her husband before ambulance and paramedics arrived.
Alistair Blake fell into cardiac arrest while sleeping next to his wife Melinda in their Blairgowrie holiday house in January 2019
They worked on Mr Blake for more than an hour and gave him adrenaline and eight shocks with a defibrillator, but he was not responding.
Paramedics began to lose hope and Ms Blake was taken into another room to tell her the bad news.
‘I was thinking how can you bloody die on the floor, this is our dream beach house. This was supposed to be where we were going to relax, so it was pretty confronting,’ she said.
As paramedics were about to give up, they noticed Mr Blake’s chest was shaking before he miraculously produced a pulse.
He had been medically dead for 90 minutes.
Mr Blake was rushed to the cath lab at Frankston Hospital where cardiologist Prof Jamie Layland opened his blocked artery before he was moved to the Intensive Care Unit to cool his body to protect his brain.
Ms Blake (pictured with her husband) commenced CPR on her husband before paramedics arrived, who were about to give up hope before he miraculously produced a pulse
He was shocked twice with a defibrillator to bring his heart beat back into rhythm and regained consciousness four days later.
Doctors are astounded that Mr Blake suffered no brain damage or physical impairment.
Mr Blake had an operation to have a pacemaker put on his heart as a precaution and was discharged from after 12 days.
He has been nicknamed ‘Lazarus’ by medical staff after his remarkable recovery.
Mr Blake has a new lease on life since coming back from the dead, celebrating his 60th birthday, becoming a grandfather and spending more time on the tennis court.
He is back working as an accountant but has scaled back his work to allow him more time with his friends and family.
‘I feel it is a miracle that I am as fit, able and healthy as I am compared with the potential of what I could have ended up being,’ Mr Blake said.
Mr Blake (pictured with his wife) was nicknamed ‘Lazarus’ after his remarkable recovery and has scaled back his work since the incident to spend more time with his friends and family