After a decade of helping to save lives, Ian suddenly had to fight for his own

Published: 4 February 2026

Working for New Zealand’s leading heart charity, the Heart Foundation, for nearly a decade, Ian was passionate about raising awareness and the risks of heart disease. He never imagined, he would be the one fighting for his life.

It was a May morning in 2024. Ian set off to work to the bus stop, unaware that within an hour he would be in hospital. There were no warning signs, no symptoms, nothing to suggest what would happen next. 

On a busy commuter bus, travelling along Auckland’s Tamaki Drive, Ian went into sudden cardiac arrest. 

Simon, a passenger sitting nearby noticed something wasn’t right with Ian’s breathing and asked, “Are you alright mate?”.  

Another passenger, Alanna, realising the danger, called out for help. The bus screeched to a stop. Two more passengers stepped forward: Simon dialled 111, another formerly in the volunteer fire service, Andrea, began CPR, and another passenger Cameron took over when she tired. 

Alanna held Ian’s hand and guided the group through the unfolding emergency. 

For several minutes, these strangers worked together with determination to keep Ian alive.  

The Fire Service arrived within 5 minutes and got Ian off the bus and onto the pavement where they continued compressions. A couple of minutes later the ambulance arrived and used a defibrillator and then transported him to hospital. 

“I am forever grateful for the people around me that day. I was a complete stranger. But they chose to help a fellow human and I find that absolutely amazing,” Ian says. 

While Ian remained unconscious in a medically induced coma, specialists began the urgent work of figuring out what had happened.  

“An ultrasound initially showed that my heart might only be functioning at 25% capacity. Blood tests showed that my troponin levels, a protein that indicates heart damage, were coming back at more than 4000 – the highest level in the ‘normal’ range should be less than 15. This confirmed I’d had a serious heart attack, which led to my life-threatening cardiac arrest.”  

An angiogram later revealed three severely blocked arteries, two of them totally blocked. He needed a triple bypass. 

“For my wife Tina, the shock of the news was hard. One moment, I had set out for work, the next, police were knocking on the door with urgent instructions to get to the hospital.”  

For Alanna and the passengers who fought to revive him, the experience was equally traumatic. Yet all of them would later say they simply did what anyone would hope strangers would do for a loved one.   

When Ian finally woke up, 24 hours after boarding the bus, his vital signs had miraculously returned to normal. But the emotional weight of what he’d been through settled in slowly.  

“I had no memory of collapsing, no recollection of the frantic rescue, only the accounts of others and the evidence written in my medical notes.” 

His case left even the cardiology team puzzled. He had no obvious risk factors. His lifestyle was balanced and active. He’d been diligent with regular health checks. On paper, he was not someone who should have suffered a major cardiac event. 

But that, Ian now says, is the unsettling truth about heart disease: it can strike anyone, anywhere, without warning. 

One person every 90 minutes dies from heart disease in New Zealand. Many of those people, like Ian, have no idea they’re at risk until it’s too late.  

Investment in heart research is at the core of the Heart Foundation’s work and is vital to saving and improving the lives of people with heart disease.  

Innovative new technology to detect heart disease early is becoming more common and more advanced tests like blood screening, developed through decades of research, played a crucial role in diagnosing and treating Ian’s condition.  

Screening can also be lifesaving. A calcium score test (a heart CT scan) would have most likely picked up the issue and statin medication prescribed. 

Being able to perform CPR is also crucial in saving lives. The Heart Foundation is a strong supporter of New Zealanders learning CPR and advocate for wider access of defibrillators in the community. 

“I was told that to survive a cardiac arrest in the community, I would have a 10% chance of survival. So, the fact I’m still here is in no small part down to the actions of the people on the bus that day, who stepped up and kept my heart going until help arrived.” 

Ian’s recovery has been long, marked by both physical and emotional scars. But he considers himself exceptionally lucky that strangers stepped in and medical teams acted quickly. 

Ian shares his story as part of the Big Heart Appeal which takes place in February 2026, in the hope that New Zealanders will continue supporting the heart research that saves lives every day.