By NOEL MURPHY
BYSTANDERS kept a baseballer alive with CPR and an on-site defibrillator after he collapsed with a heart attack at Deakin University on the weekend.
Security officer Steven Janetzki said the man, in his 50s, had stopped breathing.
Mr Janetzki described on his Facebook page how he and baseball club members worked “for what seemed the longest 15 to 20 minutes of my life” to resuscitate the man.
“This person’s life was in our hands and you don’t even know this person but you realise he is just like yourself and has family and friends who love him very much,” he said.
“With every minute going by, you don’t ever think to give up and maybe someone was looking down on our efforts and just as the paramedics arrived the male person’s life was back with us.
“I guess I will never know if it was due to our efforts or simply a miracle that happened… but the paramedics said if it wasn’t for us things might have been different.”
The man was transported to Geelong Hospital where his condition was described on Wednesday as serious but stable.
Ambulance paramedics were called to the Deakin Waurn Ponds campus at 12.20pm.
An ambulance spokesman said bystanders carried out CPR “and got an auto-defibrillator and shocked his heart before paramedics arrived”.
“The paramedics continued CPR and further shocks were administered to the man’s heart by paramedics,” the spokesman said.
“Paramedics were able to revive him and he was taken to Geelong Hospital in a serious condition.”
Mr Janetzki said he would remember the incident for the rest of his life.
“Things like this make me understand that life is amazing and I’m so very lucky to have the best family and friends and to live life with a smile every day.”
