A cruise ship passenger’s relaxing holiday to Australia’s iconic Whitsunday Islands took a terrifying and almost fatal turn late last month. Joshua Gul was buzzing with excitement when he boarded the Carnival Encounter in Brisbane on June 24 alongside 15 loved ones.
Eager to celebrate his dad’s 80th birthday, the Queenslander and his family members spent the first day settling in and enjoying the sea voyage. However, just hours later their elation turned to dread.
Around 6am the next morning, as the ship was anchored offshore at Airlie Beach, Joshua awoke to a radiating pain in his left arm and hand, according to Mackay Hospital and Health Service.
Worried about the intensity of his pain, the 55-year-old’s wife Nancy alerted relatives staying in the cabin next door. “Thankfully, they quickly rang the onboard medical team who arrived at our cabin within five minutes,” she said.
“When the doctor and nurses arrived, he was already unconscious and had gone into cardiac arrest — they had to start resuscitation immediately; it all happened so fast.”
Wife and daughter watch in horror as cruise medics perform CPR
Nancy and the couple’s 16-year-old daughter watched on in horror as the medical team performed CPR on Joshua for 30 minutes. He was then rushed ashore on a shuttle boat and taken to Proserpine Hospital before being medically evacuated by helicopter to Mackay Base Hospital.
Once there, the 55-year-old was admitted into intensive care and placed in an induced coma, prompting his concerned relatives to leave the cruise and travel to his bedside.
After five days on a ventilator, the dad finally opened his eyes. Two days later he underwent an angiogram, which revealed the cardiac episode had been caused by a potential blockage and narrowing of blood vessels in his heart, the Mackay Hospital and Health Service reports.
Joshua was medically evacuated by helicopter to Mackay Base Hospital, where he was placed in an induced coma. Source: Google Maps
Cruise ship’s medical team saved passenger’s life, doctor says
Mackay Base Hospital ICU Director Stephen Luke said the onboard medical team’s fast response was crucial in Joshua’s recovery. “CPR and defibrillation on the cruise ship truly saved his life,” he said.
“This is the chain of survival at work, with the added challenges of retrieval off the cruise ship and distance in North Queensland. We were all really excited to see Josh wake up without serious damage to his brain.”
Nancy said it is an “absolute miracle” her husband of 24 years didn’t suffer any cognitive impairment. “Joshua was very lucky in what was an incredibly unlucky situation for us,” she said.
“If this cardiac episode had happened at home and not on the cruise ship in the Whitsundays, Joshua wouldn’t have had such rapid access to care like he did, and he probably wouldn’t have made it.” The couple live in Buderim, in the Sunshine Coast region.
Despite his incredibly close call, Joshua has vowed to have another crack at a cruising holiday. “I was having a great time on the ship… but I was on a shuttle boat, had my first ride in a helicopter, as well as an ambulance trip — and I missed all of it as I was unconscious,” he said.
But his mum is less than keen to join, given this is the third voyage she’s been forced to cancel due to illness or injury.
Do you have a story tip? Email: newsroomau@yahoonews.com.
You can also follow us on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Twitter and YouTube.
