A young mum's life was saved by quick-thinking colleagues after she suffered a heart attack at work. Carly Lang, 31, collapsed during a shift at Parkville Hotel in Blantyre on July 8 of this year before work mates sprung into action and performed CPR on her.
Carly had been feeling unwell before she was found on the ground by a colleague. The mum-of-one previously had tests for chest pain but doctors were unable to find a problem before the incident took place.
Her manager and co-worker worked on her for around 10 minutes before she was rushed to hospital where medics put her in an induced coma for five days. Speaking to the Record, housekeeper Carly told how it had been a normal day until tragedy struck.
She said: "I arrived at work like any other Friday morning. Everything was fine and absolutely normal then three hours later I collapsed.
"I don't remember much of that day but I apparently said to the lady I was working with that I was really hot and didn't feel great. She told me to sit down and I went into one of the rooms where you can see my house, which is across the road.
"She left for a couple of minutes to carry out some work and when she got back I was out cold on the floor. She ran down the stairs and started screaming for help.
"Thankfully my general manager Linda and one of the co-owners Grant were there when they weren't even meant to be on shift. They performed CPR on me for around 10-12 minutes before the ambulance came.
"It's terrifying this happened, especially at my age. My poor partner Bryan was traumatised by it as well. He raced up after getting a phone call and had to see me like that.
"I'd gone completely grey. He still struggles to deal with it."
When Carly arrived at University Hospital Hairmyres, doctors were unable to find what had caused the massive heart attack. They then placed her in an induced coma so they could monitor her.
After two days, Carly suffered another cardiac episode, leading medics to discover a blood clot in her heart. She was then fit with a stent. Although she has not yet received an official diagnosis, doctors genetics may have caused the initial heart attack.
Carly's mum died of a cardiac arrest at the age of 49.
Rangers fan Carly, who is mum to Brody, 3, is not yet well enough to work as she continues her recovery four months on, but fears she will be unable to return to the room she collapsed in while dealing with the trauma of the incident. Paying tribute to her colleagues, Carly has also issued a warning to people to seek help for symptoms as soon as they start, regardless of their age.
Carly added: "I'm so grateful to my colleagues and I feel like they deserve all the recognition for keeping me alive.
"I'd urge anyone with symptoms in their chest to keep pushing for a diagnosis and speak to doctors as much as they can to try and find out what is going on."
The hotel's General Manager Linda McNulty also told the Record: "For some reason myself and Grant Hood, managing director, were both in the building despite being off that day.
"We'd all been on a first-aid course and have just recently done a refresher, so we are just grateful we were both there and able to do CPR. "
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