Back in the water: How quick action saved Richard’s life

Back in the water: How quick action saved Richard’s life

On a warm Sunday morning in December 2024, Richard Milton did what he had done countless times before. The then 64-year-old headed to Narrabeen Beach in Sydney for a surfing competition with friends.

Fit, active and healthy, he surfed up to four times a week, played tennis regularly and attended routine health checks every year. He had no reason to think that day would be any different.

“I describe myself as being a fit individual,” Richard says. “Perfect cholesterol, perfect blood pressure. My own doctor says he can't believe it happened to me.”

After more than two hours in the water, the competition wrapped up and Richard returned to the car park with his mates. He had packed away his board and changed out of his wetsuit when he noticed something wasn't right.

“I said to one of my surfing buddies that I felt a bit off,” he recalls. “I couldn't explain it. I had no chest pain, no head pain. I just felt off.”

A friend offered to drive him to hospital, but they never made it that far.

Richard collapsed face-first onto the bitumen between parked cars. For a minute or two, nobody realised what had happened. Then his friend Ron, a former Navy serviceman trained in CPR, rushed to his side and began chest compressions.

What happened next was a chain of events Richard still struggles to believe.

One friend ran to a nearby fire station looking for help. Nobody was there. Another headed towards an ambulance station. Again, no luck. Two others raced to the nearby Narrabeen Surf Lifesaving Club, where members happened to be conducting CPR training at that exact moment. The surf lifesavers immediately grabbed an automatic external defibrillator (AED) and rushed to the car park. Club member Matt Murphy, took over from Ron, delivering two shocks with the AED. But Richard's heart still wouldn't respond.

Richard’s friends and the surf lifesavers continued CPR for between 35 and 40 minutes until paramedics arrived.

Richard remembers none of it, and his retelling of the story comes courtesy of other people’s recollections of the event.

“I don't remember a thing,” he says. “I was completely out of it until I woke up in the hospital.”

At Northern Beaches Hospital, doctors discovered the cause. Richard had suffered a complete blockage of his left anterior descending artery, which can be fatal without rapid treatment. Emergency surgery restored blood flow with a single stent.

After three days in intensive care and a further three days in a hospital ward, Richard faced a long recovery. Initially, his cardiologist warned that damage to his heart might never fully heal. But six months later, follow-up tests told a different story. His heart had recovered completely.

Remarkably, despite receiving prolonged CPR, Richard didn't suffer a single broken rib.

“My chest was sore for about three months, but I had no broken ribs,” he says.

Within two months he was back surfing. Six months to the day after his cardiac arrest, he was cleared to drive again. Before long, he found himself competing in surfing contests at the very beach where his life had nearly ended.

The emotional recovery, however, took longer.

“I took a long time to come to terms with why it actually happened to myself,” he says. “You just wonder why it happens to you.”

Eventually, Richard found purpose in his experience.

“Since that time, I've realised that my job is to tell other people about my story,” he says.

That decision may already be saving lives. Richard knows of at least three people who sought medical testing after hearing his story. One required a quadruple bypass, while two others needed stents. In his own words: “It saved their lives.”

To thank the people who saved him, Richard and his fellow surfers returned to Narrabeen Surf Life Saving Club six months after the incident. Together, they completed CPR training with the same volunteers who had helped keep him alive. A year later, they did it again.

For Richard, the experience has come full circle.

“I felt like I owed people for saving me,” he says. “So, I've gone out and done the first aid courses too.”

Today, Richard is back in the water, enjoying retirement and continuing to share his story. He hopes it encourages others not to assume they're immune to heart disease and to learn the skills that could one day save a life.

Whether his survival was luck, fate, or a combination of extraordinary circumstances and extraordinary people, Richard knows one thing for certain.

Without CPR, a defibrillator and a group of friends willing to act, he would not be here today.

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