Tyrone Johnson has been teaching karate for 20 years.
In the middle of an evening session in May, the Werribee resident’s class took an unexpected turn when he went into cardiac arrest.
It was his quick-thinking bystanders who brought him back to life with a defibrillator.
“I don’t remember much,” Mr Johnson said.
“It was a normal day. I’d been to work, come into teach the class at 5.30 and halfway through I had a hot flush. I woke up 20 minutes later.”
Parents of the karate students, a fellow karate instructor and a member of the Iramoo Community Centre’s staff jumped to his aid and shocked him back to life with a recently installed automatic external defibrillator.
By the time paramedics arrived, Mr Johnson was up and talking.
He was reunited with his saviours on Friday when they were recognised by Ambulance Victoria for their bravery.
“I’m so thankful,” Mr Johnson said.
“Without their quick thinking, I probably wouldn’t be alive today.”
Ambulance Victoria Point Cook team manager Brett Parker said that on the day paramedics from Werribee, Hoppers Crossing and Point Cook responded to the call, and they were surprised when they found Mr Johnson talking to the bystanders.
Mr Parker described their response as an “amazing team effort”.
“They used the public access defibrillator and the shock restarted his heart.”
Paramedic Hayley Cobble, who responded to the call-out, said:
“It’s not often we arrive to a cardiac arrest and the patient is sitting up and talking to us.”
Mr Johnson spent nine days in hospital and is now back teaching his classes.
