Jeffrey's Story - Kaipara

What started as a routine day of home maintenance quickly became a fight for survival for Kaipara resident Jeffrey.

Working outside his home, Jeffrey felt the familiar sting of a paper wasp on his finger. Having been stung by the same type of wasp a few weeks earlier with little more than temporary discomfort, he thought nothing of it.

Twenty minutes later, everything changed.

“I started feeling dizzy and sick,” Jeffrey recalls. “I needed to throw up, but my throat was swelling closed and I couldn’t.”

With his sister by his side, Jeffrey asked her to call an ambulance before collapsing unconscious on the floor.

What happened next was pieced together later from ambulance reports and medical staff.

The sting had triggered a severe anaphylactic reaction, causing Jeffrey’s throat to swell and sending his body into cardiac arrest. First responders arrived quickly and fought to save his life, using a defibrillator eight times before restoring a heartbeat.

Recognising the critical nature of the situation, the Auckland Westpac Rescue Helicopter was immediately tasked and landed in a neighbouring paddock while emergency crews continued working on Jeffrey.

As he was transferred to the helicopter, Jeffrey suffered another cardiac arrest.

“I briefly woke up in the helicopter,” he laughs. “The only thing I remember thinking was that they hadn’t given me a window seat.”

It would be the last light-hearted moment in an otherwise extraordinary medical emergency.

By the time Jeffrey reached Auckland Hospital, he had suffered three cardiac arrests and required a total of 11 defibrillation shocks. Doctors later discovered the anaphylactic reaction had triggered a condition known as Kounis Syndrome, where the allergic response causes severe blockage of the coronary arteries. Two stents were inserted to restore blood flow to his heart.

Looking back, Jeffrey has no doubt the helicopter flight saved his life.

“There’s absolutely no way I could have been driven to hospital,” he says. “We’re a long way from Auckland and I crashed again while I was in the helicopter. If I’d been in a vehicle, I’d be dead.”

Today, Jeffrey is recovering well. While he still manages ongoing medication and the lingering effects of his ordeal, he remains grateful to everyone involved in his rescue.

“The fact that I walked out of hospital at all is because the emergency crews were there, the helicopter was called immediately, and they got me to the specialist care I needed.”

Jeffrey’s story is a reminder that medical emergencies can happen at any time, anywhere. Thanks to the generosity of our supporters, the Auckland Westpac Rescue Helicopter crew can continue delivering critical care and rapid transport when every minute counts.

For Jeffrey, those minutes made all the difference.

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