‘Stay with me’: Wife’s harrowing triple-0 call
Audio of former world surfing champion's wife pleading for him to stay alive while on the phone to a triple 0 call taker has been released.
The audio captures the scary moment Gold Coast surfing icon Andrew McKinnon's wife rang emergency services to alert them about the 1988 world ISA longboard champion suffering a major heart attack.
THE QUICK THINKING THAT SAVED THE LIFE OF COAST SURFING ICON
Megan McKinnon can be heard pleading for husband to stay with her, while she takes advice from the triple 0 call taker.
The call taker can be heard saying "tell me exactly what's happened?" before Megan details her husbands current state.
"He's gone pale, he's sweating, his chest has gone tight, he's finding it hard to breath," she tells the call taker.
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After the lady on the phone instructs Megan to stay calm and to let her husband know medical help is on its way, the shaken wife can be heard pleading for her partner to stay alive.
"He's still conscious, come on stay with me Andrew, stay with me darling," the audio captures Megan saying to her husband.
"You're not going, oh sweetie don't do this to me. I need you.
"I love you too but stay with me please. The ambulance is coming."
The incident occurred on July 19, four days before the man known as Andy Mac's 67th birthday.
Andrew McKinnon, who'll be out of the water for three months, said the Gold Coast paramedics, Gold Coast University Hospital medical staff and his wife had all saved his life.
"I'm feeling pretty good, a lot better than three weeks ago when I tried to climb the (Currumbin) steps," McKinnon said.
"I came home and had a cup of tea and broke out in a sweat.
"I thought that shouldn't happen after the steps, but then my wife realised what was happening.
"She made the triple 0 call and that saved my life.
"I've never been through anything like that in my life before, I've had some big hold-downs and some big wipe-outs, but this was something I had no control over."
Originally published as 'Stay with me': Wife's harrowing triple-0 call
