Michelle’s heart stopped during a run. Three strangers saved her life

Michelle Rybka has always been aware of the importance of learning first aid and CPR.
The high school health and PE teacher updates her first-aid credentials each year as part of her Bronze Medallion training.
Now, 13 years after a cardiac arrest, she is urging others to learn the CPR skills that brought her back from the brink of death.
Rybka was a fit and healthy 36-year-old when her life changed in 2011.
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Despite loving other forms of exercise, including swimming, cycling and skiing, she had never enjoyed running.
“Every time I went for a run, and I am talking six times in my life, I would always feel like I was going to faint so I would have to stop and walk instead,” she said.
After joining a Saturday morning boot camp where she found she could only run about three-quarters of a lap around the oval, Rybka convinced herself she just needed to work on her fitness.
Three days after the boot camp session, she and her husband went to a riverside area of Launceston, in Tasmania, where they live. The plan was for him to go fishing while she went for a run.
“I ran off through the park and along a trail through a fairly isolated area, came up through another section [and] past a bridge,” she recalled.
“I was going up a gradual hill, and that is all I know.”
Rybka later learned that about 15 minutes into her run, she suffered a cardiac arrest.
According to the Heart Foundation, a cardiac arrest occurs when the heart suddenly stops beating. This leaves the brain and other vital organs without oxygen.
Every year in Australia, more than 26,000 people suffer a cardiac arrest outside hospital, of which only about 10 per cent will survive.
That day in Launceston, a perfect storm meant Rybka would be one of them.
Two workmen who were nearby were the first on the scene.
“They saw me collapse. First onto my knees, and then the ground. They came to my aid,” Rybka said.
Next, a female police officer driving past in a police car stopped. “She started CPR chest compressions,” Rybka said.
As she was doing that, an ICU nurse who was out for a walk came to help.
“She started doing breaths, and then shortly after that a paramedic from Victoria who was on holiday in Tassie came across the situation and he took over the chest compressions from the police officer.”
Together, the trio worked on Rybka, even managing to get her heart beating again, however, she was suffering ventricular fibrillation — a type of life-threatening irregular heart rhythm.
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“My heart was beating out of control… but not pumping any blood,” Rybka said.
Finally, an ambulance arrived and paramedics twice used a defibrillator to restore Rybka’s heart rhythm before she was rushed to hospital.
There, worried doctors placed her in an induced coma in the intensive care unit and packed her body in ice to lower her body’s temperature and reduce damage to her vital organs.
After two weeks in hospital, Rybka was flown by the Royal Flying Doctors Service to Melbourne for more tests and to have a defibrillator fitted.
According to the Heart Foundation, the majority of cardiac arrests are caused by problems with the heart’s electrical system, which controls the rate and rhythm that blood is pumped around the body.
Rybka’s cardiac arrest was due to some sort of electrical malfunction in her heart, but doctors were unable to pinpoint the exact cause.
Rybka, now 49, survived with no adverse effects, and counts herself very lucky that her life was saved that day by strangers.
“There were a lot of little things that happened that brought these three people right to my location at the same time,” she said.
“I could have been in an isolated area when it happened.
“The ICU nurse was meant to be having dinner with her mum who said, ‘I feel like going for a walk.’
“I was just so fortunate.”
Rybka said was able to thank almost everyone who saved her life that day.
“The ICU nurse was working in the ICU where I spent the first weeks. She is actually married to one of my former students,” she said.
“The police officer and I spoke and the [on-duty] paramedic ended up being the parent of children I taught.
“Sometimes I run into them in the coffee shop.”
She even tracked down the off-duty paramedic from Victoria.
“I sent them all thankyou cards,” she said.
Now Rybka wants others to learn first aid and CPR.
The First Aid Proficiency Report released this month by Australia Wide First Aid found 80 per cent of Australians agreed CPR was the most important first-aid skill but 47 per cent said it was also the most intimidating.
And 6 per cent said they would be reluctant to act in an emergency for fear of making the situation worse.
Australia Wide First Aid chief operating officer Melissa Dos Santos said CPR could transform an ordinary Aussie into a lifesaver.
“Learning the basic skills and taking a first-aid course can be the first step in the difference between life or death,” she said.
While Rybka acknowledges she was fortunate to have professionals helping her, she said anyone could save a life.
“Yes, the skills are really important but you can always help save someone’s life,” she said.
“Chest compressions really are the most important thing, just to keep the blood pumping, and even if you’re not doing it quite right it is important just to do something.
“From my perspective, I see how wonderful CPR was when surviving my cardiac arrest so my family and friends did not have to go through an even more traumatic situation.” 
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