As Jess Goldberg left the community first-aid course, her head felt like it was spinning. As a mother of four, the 36-year-old maths teacher had signed up thinking it was a responsible thing to do. But she wondered how she would absorb it all.
‘There was so much going on: visual aids, practising on mannequins – I felt completely overwhelmed,’ she recalls.
‘I thought: “How could I ever do this in real life or even remember what to do?” ’
But in June 2021 – six years after taking the first-aid course – Jess would find out, after discovering her then-five-month-old son, Ori, blue and lifeless in his cot.
She instinctively began performing CPR (cardiopulmonary resuscitation). ‘All the children were in bed and my husband was out,’ says Jess, who lives with husband Rafi, 39, an optician, and their three older children, aged seven to 14, in Manchester.
‘I’d decided to have a shower and went into our room where Ori was sleeping, when I heard him making a strange sound. I picked him up and was shocked to see how blue he looked. He wasn’t breathing.’
In that terrifying moment, Jess says, she went on to autopilot.
She recalls: ‘I grabbed my phone to call the emergency services, while continuing CPR. The fear was all-consuming – but somehow, I just kept doing what I had to do.
‘I remembered from the class that I had to do a ratio of two breaths for every 30 compressions, so that’s what I did until help arrived about seven minutes later – by which time, thankfully, Ori was breathing.’
Jess Goldberg with her son Ori as a baby
After the 36-year-old maths teacher and mother of four undertook a first aid course she never thought she would be able to administer the life-saving training in real life
Later, doctors told Jess she’d saved her son’s life. ‘Once Ori was stable in hospital and I could take it all in, I couldn’t get over the fact the training from years earlier had stayed with me,’ she says.
In a cardiac arrest – where the heart stops pumping blood around the body – CPR is vital for a chance of survival, buying time until either a defibrillator is used or medics arrive.
‘The brain needs oxygen to survive – when you give CPR the aim is to try to keep blood flowing and, therefore, oxygen going to the brain,’ explains Dr Ian Higginson, president of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine.
Yet research by St John Ambulance shows only 43 per cent of people know how to give CPR – even though 30,000 cardiac arrests a year happen outside of hospitals and fewer than 7.8 per cent survive to 30 days, a 2018 Warwick University study found.
‘A person’s chance of survival decreases by 10 per cent per minute once they’re in cardiac arrest,’ explains Richard Lee, a spokesman for the Royal College of Paramedics. ‘And with 80 per cent of cardiac arrests happening in the home, it is vital that you know how to start CPR immediately if a patient is unresponsive and has stopped breathing.’
With British Heart Foundation data showing average ambulance-response times for heart attacks and strokes reached 47 minutes in 2024, knowing how to do CPR could be lifesaving.
‘Fast action from a bystander can double a person’s chances of survival,’ adds Adam Benson-Clarke, of Resuscitation Council UK, which promotes CPR awareness among the public. Yet the council’s research shows only a third of Britons would attempt CPR on someone who stopped breathing.
Doctors in emergency medicine see the consequences.
‘We get patients in A&E when it’s too late, having suffered too much heart or brain damage,’ says Professor Rob Galloway, a consultant in emergency medicine at University Hospitals Sussex NHS Foundation Trust, and a Good Health columnist. ‘Bystanders make the difference between living and dying.
‘I remember someone who had a cardiac arrest during an amateur football game. No one knew what to do. By the time he reached A&E, he was too unwell and died. Had he had CPR early, he would have survived.’
At the hospital, Jess and Rafi were told – mistakenly – that Ori had stopped breathing due to a problem with reflux, when a baby brings up milk or is sick from feeding. After five days of tests to rule out infection or damage, Ori was allowed home.
Jess says: ‘Straight after we got home, I messaged the man who had run the community first-aid course years before to tell him how his sessions had saved Ori.’
But two weeks later, Ori stopped breathing again.
‘After the first incident we’d bought a specialist baby monitor to track Ori’s oxygen levels and heart rate,’ explains Jess.
‘The alarm went off just after we’d been watching the Euros final. Rafi and I raced into his room – panicking, but knowing what we had to do.
‘It seemed to take longer to revive Ori. It was absolutely terrifying. But the emergency services were very quick to get to us.’
This time further tests delivered a devastating diagnosis.
The family were warned that, ultimately, their child would need a double lung transplant. Sadly, Ori became too ill and died in April last year, aged four
It wasn’t reflux: Ori had pulmonary hypertension, high blood pressure affecting the lungs, as a result of blood vessels not opening properly after birth.
It was a huge shock and, after the diagnosis, Jess remained in hospital with her son for six months as he was so unwell.
Over the next few years, Ori’s condition was managed with different medication and oxygen, as well as, latterly, a mask at night.
But the family were warned that, ultimately, he would need a double lung transplant. Sadly, Ori became too ill for a transplant and died in April last year, aged four.
Despite her crushing grief, Jess reflects on how CPR gave the family precious years: ‘Ori was such a lovely little boy, he had so much personality. We all miss him desperately, but we would have only had five months with him had it not been for that first-aid course.’
Jess’s skills helped others, too. ‘I was with a friend at our kids’ swimming lesson and I told her about what had happened and she asked me to explain the basics of first aid.
‘She messaged me recently to say her son had choked on a lollipop and she knew what to do, which was to hit his back in an upwards motion. And all because of our conversation – incredible.’
Professor Galloway points out the need for CPR training to be widespread – in ‘schools, sports clubs, community centres, workplaces. In fact, as part of getting a driving licence you should have to know how to do CPR,’ he adds.
‘The cost is tiny, compared to the huge cost of emergency care, long-term disabilities and the possibility of losing a life.’
Jess is determined some good should come from her family’s loss. ‘I feel so strongly that everyone should know first aid, including CPR. There should be posters on the walls in restaurants showing people what to do if someone is choking. You never know when it might save a life.’
As well as in-person first-aid courses, the British Red Cross, British Heart Foundation and Resuscitation Council UK offer CPR training online.