About 9.30pm on Saturday, January 12, Lower Creek resident Kay Bridge suffered a heart attack and paramedics were contacted. Her husband Felix Noble was interstate at the time, so neighbour Shane Booth was contacted.
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"Shane came over and drove Kay to meet the ambulance," Felix said.
In the dark, paramedics drove down Kempsey Road to meet Kay in the ambulance at Little Georges. She was airlifted to John Hunter Hospital in Newcastle where a Spontaneous Cardiac Arterial Dissection, or SCAD heart attack was diagnosed.
When someone stands over you and asks if you are for resuscitation or not, it becomes real.
- Kay Bridge
Kay said she knew the paramedics were absolutely shattered after that ordeal.
"The concentration of driving that road during the night with a patient on board, negotiating the road, there was the bull dust and a hole about the size of a Volkswagon, the kangaroos and everything; kudos to the Ambos," Kay said.
"They'd had a previous 000 call from someone who'd had a motorcycle or quad accident from down here, so they were familiar with getting down here."
Kay had only just arrived home when she suffered another heart attack.
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"We called 000 by mobile after driving five kilometres to get reception because the landline was out (it went out just after Kay had her first heart attack)," Felix said.
"They said they would dispatch an ambulance."
He told them they would drive to meet the ambulance.
"On the way we ran out of service," he said.
We were told that the ambulance had stopped at the end of the tar.
- Felix Noble
"When we got to a place where there was service, we had messages from 000 asking us to ring back. We couldn't, so kept going. When we got to the top of the hill at Jeogla, we got service and were able to call them back.
"They were in a two-wheel drive ambulance. It was bucketing down raining where they were and they were not willing to come down the road. They were just off Waterfall Way near McPherson's Gully."
Felix told them it was not raining at Jeogla, about 10-15 kilometres away.
"They decided to go on what we'd said and moved on, and we met them about six kilometres later at the top of the hill leading out of Oakey Creek," he said.
Kay said the ambulance took her to Armidale hospital.
"They were in constant contact with John Hunter because of the nature of the heart attack," she said.
Kay said she was absolutely terrified throughout both ordeals.
"Going back in the ambulance the second time just has you wondering if you're going to survive it. My thoughts immediately when the ambulance said it couldn't come along the other road were that I was probably going to die."
Now, the big question for the couple is do they stay on their 100 acre farm on top of the hill or sell up?
"We live in a holiday destination. Everybody comes here to have holidays, they're getting up saying they wished they lived here; well we do," Felix said.
Kay laughed, then said she really thought it was a healthy lifestyle.
