When Aideen Ahern was gifted an Apple Watch as an early birthday gift from her son Conor, little did she know that just a few weeks later the piece of tech would be instrumental in helping to save her life.
The 68-year-old collapsed at her home in Ballycastle on September 20, 2021 suffering from a ruptured Aneurysm, and thanks to her Apple Watch which alerted emergency services, police were able to break in and come to her aid alerting paramedics.
Almost a year after that night, Aideen is now back at home and living her life as normal after undergoing life-saving surgery and intense rehab, and is eternally grateful for both the watch and the team of medical staff who helped save her life.
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Speaking to Belfast Live, the mum-of-one who lives alone said she has little recollection from the night in question but had no warning signs that she would suddenly become gravely ill.
"I maybe had headaches periodically prior to it but nothing of note and on that particular day I was in great form, what I remember of it anyway and I was aware of nothing at all untoward, preceding the event.
"I have very few recollections from the event, I don't even remember being in the ambulance and taken to hospital, but according to those who were there I was unconscious and I was unresponsive the police had said, but I don't remember that or anyone else even being in the bedroom at that time.
"I just can't believe that the watch was able to do what it did which was contact the police who weren't sure whether I was even in the house or not and they just had to take the initiative and just break in, which I am so grateful for. I'm so grateful for the watch and to my son who gave it to me earlier than my actual birthday.
"I didn't realise the watch even had the technology to do that and even how it works but it is incredible. It really is unbelievable. I'm so grateful to all the medical services, the paramedics and everyone who came out were absolutely brilliant and I say that because a year on I'm still here."
Aideen's only son Conor, who lives in Belfast decided the watch would be a nice gift for his mum and decided there was no point in waiting until her birthday to gift it to her.
The 32-year-old said: "Mum spent that birthday in hospital, I had seen the watch and asked mum if that was something she would like for her birthday and bought it around the end of August and rather than wait until her birthday I gave it to her when I got it, so if I had of waited to her birthday, she might not be in the same place she is now."
Recalling the events of the night Aideen collapsed, Conor said: "We don't really know because there was no-one else in the house how the events really took place, but whenever it happened the watch asks 'Are you OK? We've registered a fall', and if you don't do anything to respond it contacts 999. It has to be activated on the watch for it to work. So, because mum was unresponsive they automatically send the police and when they arrived I think they could see the light on in mum's bedroom.
"Mum also has a Ring doorbell so afterward we were able to look back and see the police arrive at the house and their discussions about how they were going to get in and they broke their way in through the back door and got to her that way.
"Normally I'd phone mum in the evening or nightime just to see how she is and she didn't answer, and there was no answer for an hour which was strange, so I phoned my dad. He just lives at the other side of [Ballycastle] town and by the time he came over the police were already there and had contacted paramedics."
The hours and weeks which followed Aideen's collapse were a period of great worry and tough decisions for the family.
Aideen underwent emergency surgery in the Royal Victoria Hospital after being transferred from the Causeway where the family were told she was 'incredibly ill'.
"Mum fell around 10.30pm, the police were there about 11pm and by the time she got to the Royal I think it was maybe 4 or 5am and then the surgery took place. The Doctor rang me to explain all that was going to happen and the risks that were involved and he said I had two options, we go through it with all the risks or we don't do anything and if that was the case it was unlikely she would pull through it."
The family has paid tribute to all the staff at each of the hospitals for the care and attention Aideen received to enable her to make a miraculous recovery.
Conor said: "I had very little hospital experience before this luckily so I didn't really know what was happening, my wife is a physio and worked in ICU during Covid so I've always had an awareness of the things the NHS does but I genuinely had no idea how good they are.
"In Ward 4F [in the Royal] where mum was, the staff was just incredible. They were so good to mum, they were so good to me, even the encouraging words they had. No-one wants to give you any false hope, but you want answers and you want to know to try and plan for the future, but no-one wants to tell you for sure she is going to be OK, you're just told she's very ill and the brain is very complex and you have to just give it time to heal.
"For most of the time she was in the Royal in Ward 4F we didn't really know what was going to happen, she had bad days and good days. But whenever I would come in if mum had been sitting out in her chair that day, the nursing staff were so excited to tell me, they were so compassionate, it was brilliant to see."
Aideen then moved on to Antrim hospital before being granted a place in the Regional Acquired Brain Injury Unit (RABIU) in Musgrave, where she spent a further 12 weeks.
"RABIU is quite a small ward, it's really specialised, I think there are only maybe 35 inpatients, a very small number so as soon as mum went there that was where I saw the biggest upturn in mum's progress," said Conor.
Aideen continued: "They're second to none, the dedicated team they have [in RABIU] is just fantastic. Their physios, their occupational therapists, speech and language, they have so many therapists to cover all the bases and it was done on a very strict routine, timetabled in a way, and they were just absolutely wonderful. It's because of them I'm walking, it's because of them that I'm now back out and walking as well as I ever had done.
"The hospitals, in general, are just phenomenal, I always had great admiration for nurses anyway but this has just solidified that. I don't know how they do it and they're not recognised nearly enough. It's right down through the whole staff its not just doctors and nurses, it's nursing assistants, even the cleaners who came into the wards were so lovely and encouraging."
As a way of giving back, Conor is currently fundraising for both Ward 4F in the Royal Victoria Hosptial, Belfast and RABIU in Musgrave, and for every £5 donated, you will be entered into a prize draw to win an Apple Watch SE, the same one which helped alert emergency services to Aideen's collapse.
Recognising the role the Apple Watch played in helping to save her life, Aideen added: "Most of my family have now bought the watches, especially for people like me who live alone, I don't leave the house without it now, it's on my arm all the time. It really did help save my life."
Aideen added: "I just want to pay tribute to Conor, he is my only child and he has just been absolutely amazing, he and his wife they got married just about two weeks after I got out of hospital and that was one of my goals that not only would I be able to attend their wedding but to walk into it and I did both which was amazing.
"Also family, friends and work colleagues and everyone who was so understanding of our situation. "
"Although, I am an only child I had brilliant support from my now wife, my wife's family, my mum's brothers and sisters, my dad as well, he was the first one on the scene and was straight on to mum's sisters and just the support of the whole family was really key too as well as everything that was being done for mum in the NHS," added Conor."
To donate to the fundraiser in aid of the hospitals and be entered into the prize draw to win the Apple Watch, CLICK HERE.
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