A COUNCILLOR thanked the police and medical personnel for saving her husband’s life.
Cllr Joan Butterfield, of Rhyl, said husband Jack owed his survival to an anonymous dog walker and a crew of dedicated professionals after he suffered a heart attack in his car - just a week after the family travelled to London to receive Joan’s MBE.
Jack Butterfield, who is also a town councillor, was found slumped over his steering wheel and spent part of December in intensive care at Ysbyty Glan Clwyd but recently returned home, safe and well.
Cllr Joan Butterfield said: “A person walking his dog found him in the driver’s seat on Cefendy Road at night and flagged down a police car. He’s 80 years old. He had a heart attack 10 years earlier, but he was healthy and hearty the evening he was out. He was lucky a kind person found him.”
Mr Butterfield was resuscitated on site and then rushed to hospital, where his family feared the worst.
Mrs Butterfield said: “I’d just been given my MBE that week, and had a lovely time in London but that absolutely paled into insignificance. We are eternally grateful to everybody. How different would this year have been if they hadn’t been there.”
“The care he received was excellent. For those old people anxious that a hospital might not give them care and attention, there’s no need to worry. And the police get bad press sometimes, but they attended to him immediately.”
Mrs Butterfield said her husband has made a full recovery, and is still receiving comprehensive after care.
She said: “It was touch and go for the first three days, but he’s a tough old bird. I can’t praise everyone - the kind person with the dog, the police, the ambulance people and the hospital staff enough. They were wonderful.”