A drop of fate, a dose of luck or just pure coincidence brought three CPR trained bystanders to the gym the morning Warren Woods suffered a heart attack. 

The trio jumped into action when Mr Woods collapsed at Flinders View 12RND gym. They performed CPR and called paramedics to the scene.

After his heart stopped for seven minutes, less than six weeks ago, this week a teary reunion occurred as Warren reunited with those CPR-skilled bystanders and the Queensland Ambulance team that saved his life. 

Mr Woods said the morning of January 8, started like any other. He began with an average workout, however it soon turned into a day he’d never forget. 

“I remember doing the first and second round and after that the third one was the last thing I remember,” he said. 

“There was no pain, I don’t remember anything after that. 

“The next thing I remember was waking up and there were a lot of lights above me and someone said, ‘you’ve had a heart attack, and I went ‘really?’.”

While his heart had flatlined, the three other occupants of the gym, Paula Watkins Donna Cavanagh and gym owner Neil Moore, began CPR immediately.

“There was only Warren and the three of us in the gym … I had just discussed a technique with Warren, turned around to hold pads with Donna and he stumbled backwards and collapsed on the floor,” Mr Moore said. 

“We all rushed over to him, put him in recovery [position], checked to see if he was responding and he wasn’t. 

“I called the ambulance and thought I’ll get them here as quickly as possible, so I ran and got my phone and went outside to call them.

“Then Donna came out and said ‘he’s not breathing’ and that escalated the situation a bit.” 

At this point Ms Watkins and Ms Cavanagh had already begun CPR. Just by chance the two women both work in jobs which require them to constantly update their first aid certificates. 

“I didn’t think I was capable of doing it. It wasn’t until I was there and looked into Warren’s eyes and realised, he’s not with us, I need to do something,” Ms Cavanagh said. 

“It felt really good to save someone’s life.” 

The trio said they were happy to see Mr Woods healthy and couldn’t wait for him to return to the gym. 

Ms Cavanagh said the reunion on Tuesday had been a difficult one. 

“[It was] emotional but wonderful, we locked eyes and just cuddled and cuddles and tears and yeah, it felt good,” Ms Cavanagh.

Mr Woods’ wife of thirty-six years, Georgina, was notified by Mr Moore of her husband’s heart attack. 

Ms Woods said she was so grateful to the people who stepped in.  

“They saved his life, that’s what the hospital told us, from the [gym bystanders] to the ambulance,” she said. 

“They said if it had happened somewhere else he wouldn’t have survived. 

“We have a second chance of life together.

“We take nothing for granted anymore, take every day at a time and just live life.”  

Doctors said poor lifestyle and food choices caused Mr Woods to suffer his cardiac arrest.  

“The doctors found there was only 25 percent of the heart working properly,” he said. 

Mr Woods wrote a ‘just in case letter’ while he waited four days at the PA Hospital for a triple bypass surgery. Due to Covid-19 restrictions his wife was unable to visit.  

“Just in case something did happen and we’ve been married for over 36 years so there was a lot to say in just a short number of lines,” he said. 

“That was something that was difficult, to say ‘there’s a note in the bottom of my bag in case something happens’ that was confronting.” 

But thankfully the letter was never needed, with Mr Woods now well on the way to recovery. 

“[I’m] feeling really good,” he said, 

"I've been up and probably on the walker for two-and-half weeks now.”

Queensland Ambulance paramedic George Ohan said it was because of the work of the bystanders and paramedics that Mr Warren survived. 

“Very lucky [to be alive],” he said. 

"They provided early and fantastic CPR, it's all part of a chain of survival and it puts us in better stead to manage these patients.”