Derek Edwards used first-aid training to save his wife Donna’s life, now he’s urging everyone to learn CPR

A Perth mother is lucky to be alive after she choked on her food then suffered a heart attack, before her husband put his first-aid training into action and saved her life.

Derek and Donna Edwards on Saturday met the St John WA emergency dispatcher who talked Mr Edwards through resuscitating his wife just over a month ago when she began choking and became unresponsive.

“It was the scariest night of my life — I’ll be honest,” Mr Edwards said.

“I was in the back room watching football. Donna was in the front room having dinner.”

When their teenage son Lachlan found Ms Edwards choking and unresponsive, they quickly called triple-0.

In harrowing audio from the call, Ms Edwards can be heard gasping for air in the background as her husband describes what he’s seeing to triple-0 dispatcher Tegan.

“Okay, her eyes are open, and she’s not doing anything,” he says during the call.

“She’s trying to breathe. . . she’s just sucking (in) air.”

Medical emergency dispatcher Tegan was on the other end of the line, coaching Mr Edwards and Lachlan through CPR.

“Pump the chest hard and fast, 30 times,” she said.

“At least twice per second, and at least five centimetres deep.

“Just blow two breaths into her mouth ... and tell me when you’ve done that. The chest should rise with each breath.”

Tegan said the pair “handled it so well”, despite the extremely stressful situation.

All the more helpful, Mr Edwards had taken a first-aid refresher course just weeks earlier.

His instructor Monique Gillet said although she hopes her students “leave not having to use the skills that you teach them. . . you kind of hope that if they do need to, they will be confident enough to do it”.

And it makes the job easier for all involved.

“It just makes our job as a call taker so much easier,” Tegan said.

“The instructions are clear, they understand obviously what we’re saying, what we need to do.”

Paramedic Cody was one of the first responders, he said Mr Edwards had done a stellar job.

“Derek had done such effective CPR she actually had a pulse when we arrived which was amazing,” he said.

“It makes our job a lot easier. But she was still in respiratory arrest at the time, she had quite a large obstruction in her airway.”

After a month’s recovery in hospital, Ms Edwards said everyone needs to know first-aid.

“It could happen to anyone at anytime, and if Derek didn’t know what he knew, yeah I wouldn’t be here, so I think it’s very important,” she said.

Their son Lachlan agreed.

“I think everybody should have basic CPR training,” he said.