Page 10 - link magazine

10 swindonlink.com • April 2008
Super fi t senior thanks his saviours

By rights Ivor Pope, 73, from Grange Park, should be dead, not because of his age, but because of the
ALL ABOARD WITH massive heart attack he suffered in the Link Centre swimming pool on 16 January.
The former swimming coach
By coincidence Anne Pope, 68,
IVOR THE ENGINE visits the pool several times a week also a former swimming instructor,
Sat 5th & Sun 6th April where he swims up to 12,000 metres had decided to watch Ivor after
Meet the real Ivor and his crew.eal Ivor and his crew. (480 lengths). There isn’t any fat on some shopping. “He indicated that
Meet the r
Enjoy v him; for his age, Ivor is a remarkable he had a couple of lengths to go
Enjoy various stalls arious stalls
& a bouncy castle example of being fi t in his younger and I went back to my magazine,”
IN AID OF years - he swam for the Swindon she said. “But I didn’t hear Ivor
PROSPECT HOSPICE
Dolphins in the late 1940s - and push off and looked up to see him
Blunsdon Station continued a training regime into face down in the pool; I thought he
Blunsdon Station
Tadpole Lane. retirement. At home he has a cabinet was looking for his nose clip on the
Tel: 771615 of medals won in masters competi- bottom of the pool. But when he
Trains: 11am-4pm
tions over the last 20 years. bumped into the lane rope I knew
Cafe, shop and free parking
www.swindon-cricklade-railway.org Ivor and Anne, right, thankful for quick there was something wrong because
Licenced to carry out wedding and naming ceremonies he has had skin cancer and has to
reactions and good training
be careful what he touches.
“The attention of Paul the life
guard was attracted when I went
to the pool side and he jumped in
to grab Ivor. He shouted for me to
press the alarm on the wall and I
couldn’t see it, but within seconds
six Link staff arrived to pull Ivor
out and administer fi rst aid. Donna
Seabrook kept me company whilst
her colleagues did the resuscitation.
I was told later that Ivor’s heart had
stopped and he had already swal-
lowed a lot of water.”
Luckily paramedics were only
across the road in the rest room at
the West Swindon Police Station
and arrived a few minutes later to
use their defi brillator to jolt Ivor’s
heart back into action before taking
him at breakneck speed to the GW
Hospital. “I don’t know the names
of the paramedics but they also did
an amazing job,” said Anne. “I had
to sit in the front and it was like a
rally drive across the town. In the
back Ivor had to have another jolt
because his heart had stopped. The
staff in ICT and coronary care did a
wonderful job stabilising and caring
for him.”
After three weeks he was trans-
ferred to the Bristol Royal Infi rmary
where he had to have a triple by-pass
operation which took fi ve hours.
The medical team found one of his
arteries 100 per cent blocked, and
two others working at barely ten
per cent of their capacity.
Ivor pulled through and is now in
recovery. “They told me I only sur-
vived because I was fi t and strong
enough to recover, even though the
doctors are still amazed that I had a
heart attack. I’d like to thank every-
body who has helped me.”
The couple are keen that Ivor’s
heart attack should not put off
people of all ages from eating a
good diet and exercise.
Ivor hopes to start swimming
again in a few months and they
plan to visit their swimming coach
daughter in New Zealand later in
the year when it’s safe to take a long
haul fl ight.
“There are still lots of things I
want to do before I really throw in
the towel,” he said.

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