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Dear supporter,
I'm Dr Richard Lyon, Chest Heart & Stroke Scotland Research Fellow 2008-2010, and I'm writing to extend my sincere thanks for your generous support for CHSS's research programme and to ask you to give again today. Thanks to you, and other generous people like you, John Logan – whose heart stopped suddenly on a bus on the Royal Mile – has been given a second chance at life. Your previous gift really has made an amazing difference, and our ongoing research will help other people too.
A heart attack can cause the heart to suddenly stop beating, leading to cardiac arrest. Unfortunately, in Scotland, over 3,500 people suffer sudden cardiac arrest every year. Less than 5% of cardiac arrest victims survive and a significant proportion suffer permanent brain damage,which is devastating for patients and families. Cardiac arrest is the commonest cause of sudden death in the United Kingdom.
In 2008, I was awarded the two-year CHSS Research Fellowship, to undertake novel research on cardiac arrest. In an effort to improve the survival rate from cardiac arrest and learn more about this devastating condition, I have been working closely with the Scottish Ambulance Service. Being on-call in a response car, I have been called by the 999 dispatch centre 180 times in the last 18-months, attending 140 emergencies. As well as supporting frontline ambulance crews with their work, we have been undertaking novel research into cardiac arrest, never before performed in the United Kingdom.
If the heart is successfully re-started following cardiac arrest, cooling the body can dramatically improve survival and limit brain damage. You may have heard of people buried in avalanches being revived many hours after their hearts' stopped. The cooling process seems to preserve vital organs when the heart isn't beating.
Cooling occurs for up to 24 hours and requires the patient to be managed on Intensive Care. Althouth it's a very effective therapy, we know very little about how cooling works. In an attempt to understand cooling, the TOPCAT study (Temperature post cardiac arrest) has been conducted, thanks to your generous support. Over 200 patients were included in the study, aimed at gaining better understanding of what happens in a cardiac arrest so treatment and survival can be improved. More details are available at www.topcatstudy.co.uk.
Just one of the patients included in the study was John Logan. John was travelling home from work at Edinburgh University when his heart suddenly stopped on a bus on the Royal Mile. The ambulance crew and I were on-scene within minutes and gave John advanced resuscitation, as well as performing frontline research, taking blood samples on the floor of the bus. John's heart was re-started and he was taken to Edinburgh Royal Infirmary to be cooled and stabilised. He subsequently made a full recovery and has been active in supporting resuscitation research.
John said: "I am just so grateful to the ambulance crew and Dr Lyon for giving me a second chance. I'm just so glad to be here". I'm pleased to say your generous support for the TOPCAT study has allowed John a second chance at life, as well as many others, so please help again, by visiting our secure donations site or if you'd prefer to donate by post, please download and print out our donations form.
I'm delighted that, with your support, survival from cardiac arrest in Edinburgh has climbed to over 10% - significantly higher than the UK average and a real improvement on the less than 5% survival figure before CHSS funded my work.
With further work and research, and with your continued and generous help, we aim to improve survival from this devastating condition across Scotland.
Many thanks again for your support,
Dr Richard Lyon
Chest Heart & Stroke Scotland Research Fellow 2008-2010
PS By donating to the CHSS research programme, your donation really will change lives.
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