Frankston father-of-two Vaughn Marshall had just returned home from taking his six-month-old Jack Russell, Luna, for a walk when he started having breathing difficulties. Struggling for air, Vaughn collapsed to the ground and, despite his efforts, was unable to move or reach for his phone to call for help.
Luckily for Vaughn, Luna took charge and ran for help, alerting a neighbour who called Triple Zero.
“I don’t know if Luna knew what she was doing, but she effectively saved my life,” explains Vaughn.
The ambulance rushed Vaughn to Frankston Hospital, where he was quickly diagnosed with a life-threatening pulmonary embolism by Peninsula Health Intensive Care Unit consultant Dr Craig Johnston.
“When Vaughn arrived in our Emergency Department, he was minutes away from having a cardiac arrest.
“It was a really sort of high-stakes situation,” recalls Dr Johnston. “We suspected it was a clot, but if we were wrong, the clot-busting medication would instead cause life-threatening bleeding.”
Dr Johnston used an ultrasound machine to identify the clot, giving him the proof he needed to give the medication. Vaughn started to improve within 15 minutes.
Vaughn remembers waking up in the Intensive Care Unit “feeling this deep sense of relief because the pain was over.”
He was shocked to discover just how unwell he had been, and how the ICU team, along with his hero dog Luna, had saved his life.
“All of a sudden, my eyes opened, and I could breathe again, and there were like 20 doctors standing around,” recalls Vaughn. “The doctors from the Emergency Department, half of them came up and saw me when I was in ICU and sat with me. A couple of them cried. Everyone was saying it’s just a miracle.”
A few months on, Vaughn is now recovering well. He is more fatigued than usual, but he is getting back to going for walks with Luna.
Vaughn will be spending Christmas at home with his family, thanks to the quick actions of our Intensive Care team, Ambulance Victoria paramedics, his neighbour and, of course, the wonderful Luna.
Thanks to Dr Johnston’s training and experience, he was able to save Vaughn’s life. Using ultrasound as a primary diagnostic tool is becoming a standard practice for clinicians, enabling more individuals like Vaughn to receive life-saving care.
Every day, our Intensive Care specialists are faced with making life-and-death decisions. It is crucial that our team have access to the very best training so that they are able to provide the best of care for our sickest patients.
This Christmas, we are trying to purchase a life support simulator for our Intensive Care Unit.
With your help, we will be able to fund this vital piece of training equipment, which simulates high-pressure scenarios, so more of our staff can be trained to provide critical care—saving the lives of our sickest patients.