By CASEY NEILL
BERWICK man Bill Hedges would have died if not for the kindness of strangers.
So he and his wife Kath are reaching out to thank those who came to his aid when he collapsed on Clyde Road, near Homestead Road, on Tuesday 29 September.
“I went for a walk. I’d been in hospital a couple of months earlier and put some stents in my heart,” Mr Hedges said.
“This girl, 16 to 18 years old, was passing just as I was ready to fall flat on my face.”
He handed her his phone and asked her to call an ambulance.
“I don’t remember much after that,” he said.
Mr Hedges said an ambulance and MICA intensive care paramedics were soon on the scene.
“The next thing I know, one of the women trying to get some ID took my wallet – she put it back though!” he said.
He asked her to call his wife and alert her to the situation.
“I never got any of the women’s names,” he said.
“Three or four came out and helped while waiting for an ambulance.”
Mr Hedges spent the night in hospital.
The following day he spoke to ABC Radio’s John Fayne in a bid to thank his rescuers.
“I wanted to say thank you to those people who cared for me, while I’m laying down flat on my back,” he said.
He ended up back in hospital two days after the incident and is “still not in the good books”.
Mrs Hedges is just happy to still have “the kindest man” by her side.
“Those people who stopped and helped my husband and rang an ambulance for him saved his life,” she said.
“I mean that. He would have died.
“Those kind people, I don’t know their names – they were just kind people.
“I want them to open the paper and know that we said thank you.”
Mrs Hedges was devastated to receive the phone call alerting her to her husband’s hospital dash, but is eternally grateful.
“The young girl must have been terrified,” she said.
“I don’t know who they are.
“I wanted them to know that we wanted to say thank you and they saved his life.”
