‘Thank you for saving my life …’
Had it not been for the swift and quick response of personal trainer Waven Harper, she would have been dead.
On 26 February it all became a matter of life and death for Magda Swanepoel of Wilgeheuwel when she suddenly suffered an aneurysm while at the gym.
Magda explained, “I was training at the Virgin Active Little Falls Gym when I collapsed. Had it not been for the swift and quick response of personal trainer Waven Harper, I would have been dead.”
Waven jumped to Magda’s rescue when he saw her lying on the floor between the gym equipment. “I immediately knew something was wrong. When I went to her, I saw that she had already turned blue. I immediately opened her mouth to remove her dentures to prevent her from choking,” he said. He also performed cardiopulmonary resuscitation on the unconscious Magda.
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The Gym Administrator, Phumzile Ndlovu was also present during the incident and even though she was not on duty, she did not hesitate to assist. Waven and Phumzile are both trained in first aid. “When you attend training you do not always realise how important the certificate and qualification can be, until something like this happens,” Phumzile said.
Club Manager, Iona Swanepoel said, “At Virgin Active Little Falls our staff is trained and competent in first aid, and we also have defibrillator machines to help us automatically diagnose the life-threatening cardiac arrhythmia of ventricular fibrillation. We also have panic buttons to use in cases such as Magda’s.”
Magda was admitted to Life Flora Hospital where she spent nearly four weeks in ICU. “I am just thankful that I was at the gym and not at home, because my husband would not have known what to do. Thank you to Waven and Phumzile for saving my life; they all feel like family now.”
