A 49-year-old engineer Leslie Hackwell is reported to have died 32 times in a matter of 20 minutes after having suffered a heart attack on 12 July 2005. Leslie Hackwell had to be resuscitated after the succession of cardiac arrests. He paid tribute to the medical practitioners who treated him after having survived the ordeal.
Leslie Hackwell a teetotaler, said that he was neither dead nor alive during the time when he suffered the attacks, and went on to add that the doctors attending to him had done a remarkable job. A defibrillator had to be used so many times to start the heart functioning again that they left burn marks on his chest. He was also administered with an anti-clotting drug for the purpose of thinning his blood. The doctors reportedly had a difficult time keeping him alive.It will take as long as 18 months for Hackwell to recover fully. An attack like this would have resulted in death in the case of a person whose life style was less healthy, according to the doctors. The artery of Hackwell had to be closed up as a result of the attack at the Gloucester Royal Hospital, and an anti-clotting drug had to be used to reopen it. The drug is also capable of making the heartbeat out of rhythm which again may lead to cardiac arrests.
