World class medical research helping save lives

In March 2022, 43-year-old Mark Wohlers unexpectedly suffered two cardiac arrests. The healthy and active father-of-one was playing a round of golf when he experienced dizziness and chest pain and decided to drive home to rest.

Mark was about a kilometre from his Deepdene house when he called his wife, Victoria.

“Since I have known Mark, he would never walk off the golf course for anything, so I knew something was wrong, which is why I immediately called Triple Zero (000),” Victoria said.

Mark turned into his street where he went into cardiac arrest, crashing his car into a brick wall. Victoria rushed to the scene and said she was met by multiple ambulances and firefighters.

“I saw Mark on the ground with four or five paramedics performing CPR, then suddenly a car turned up with what looked like two surgeons in blue scrubs,” she said.

“They told me they needed to perform surgery now otherwise he would die. They put up some sheets and put him on ECMO on the street.”

Mark, who had no history of heart issues in his family, is alive today thanks to an incredible chain of survival as well as an Australian-first trial which led to Ambulance Victoria paramedics and Alfred Health intensive care specialists performing life-saving surgery on the street.

The CHEER3 (CPR, pre-Hospital ECMO and Early Reperfusion) feasibility study is a partnership between Ambulance Victoria and Alfred Health, where an ambulance rapid response car is equipped with a portable heart-lung machine known as Extra-Corporeal Membrane Oxygenation (ECMO).

Intensive care specialists from The Alfred travel with Mobile Intensive Care Ambulance (MICA) paramedics to patients suffering cardiac arrest within a 25-minute radius, bringing the technology with them.

It means people can get the potentially lifesaving care they need faster, improving their chance of survival.

Once on scene, the patient is placed on ECMO and stabilised so they can be taken to The Alfred for further treatment.

In Mark’s case, he spent one week on ECMO before he was able to have a stent inserted into his heart. He spent the following week on life-support.

Incredibly, Mark has gone on to make a miraculous recovery and today, he is back running his business, playing golf and spending time with his 10-year-old son.

“I was beyond lucky to have everything align so well for me that day,” Mark said.

In April 2023, Mark and Victoria reunited with the paramedics, firefighters, ESTA call taker and Alfred Health surgeons who seamlessly worked together to help save him.

MICA paramedic Samuel Marshall, who responded to Mark’s case, said his recovery was an “extraordinary tale of survival”.

“Mark is a perfect example of why we urge everyone to know the signs of cardiac arrest and when to call Triple Zero (000). Anyone can help save a life,” he said.

Ambulance Victoria Medical Director Associate Professor David Anderson said Victoria has the best cardiac arrest survival rates in the country and one of the best in the world thanks to bystanders willing to step in and help.

“Every day, about 20 Victorians suffer a cardiac arrest and only one in 10 survive,” David said.

“We know minutes matter so if a person receives bystander CPR and defibrillation, their chance of survival increases by more than 70 per cent.”

David said Ambulance Victoria, as a research-focussed organisation, runs clinical trials to test breakthrough treatments to further improve the chances of patients like Mark returning to their loved ones.

“Mark was fortunate to be part of a feasibility study that brings cutting edge technology from the hospital to the streets – which was the icing on top of his remarkable survival story,” David said.

“Victoria is home to some of best and brightest medical specialists, with advanced medical equipment like ECMO. That makes it the best place to carry out such groundbreaking research.”

The next phase of the CHEER3 study will further investigate its benefits and how the procedure can potentially be more broadly applied in Victoria.

Victoria thanked everyone who helped save Mark’s life.

“They have given me my husband back and, more importantly, my son will continue to have a dad he can grow up with. I can’t put a price on that,” Victoria said.