Strangers save life of Dumfries man who collapsed in town centre

dailyrecord.co.uk:

A Dumfries man who collapsed in the town centre is recovering in hospital after two strangers saved his life. James Devlin and Gary Boyle ran to the rescue and carried out chest compressions on the man until paramedics arrived at the scene to take over.

The pair, who are also from Dumfries, had never met before and were in a nearby barbers shop for haircuts when the drama unfolded in English Street on Wednesday morning.

Offshore worker Gary, 39, said: “I’d come out of the barbers and went back to my car when I saw the man falling. “I jumped out and ran to him but realised I’d left my phone in the car, so went to Dickie’s bar nearby and asked somebody to phone an ambulance. “I went back to the man and his face was blue – he was struggling to breathe. “A woman who phoned the ambulance told me to put him in the recovery position and start doing chest compressions. “The closest defibrillator was too far away to get to.” Meanwhile, driving instructor James, 43, left the barbers to go for a bacon roll when he spotted Gary giving the man CPR.

He said: “The barbers was busy so I thought I’d go for something to eat and then go back. “I’d seen Gary leaving the barbers, and then when I went outside, he was trying to help the man who had collapsed. “I ran over and asked if he wanted me to take over because I know how hard it is to do chest compressions continually. “We thought we’d need to keep doing it in turns until an ambulance arrived, but luckily they were on the scene within five minutes. “I could hardly sleep for two nights wondering if the guy had made it.