A woman has been reunited with two people who saved her life on a West Footscray footpath last year.
Justen Petch and Stacey Earsman performed CPR on Kellie Delaney after she suffered a cardiac arrest on June 23, 2024.
Mr Petch, a sessional academic, and Ms Delaney already knew each other, having last met a day earlier in his role as her mentor for a placement as part of her early-childhood education studies.
He’d just wrapped up a teaching session the following day when he saw his mentee had collapsed.
“I’d literally just finished congratulating the students on a job well done and let them know we were wrapping up, when I turned around and saw Kellie was on the ground,” Mr Petch recollected.
After calling Triple Zero (000), Mr Petch then commenced CPR.
Ms Earsman – the owner of a nearby café – soon came to help.
“My business partner came into our café and asked if anyone in West Footscray had a defibrillator – so I knew that obviously something was wrong,” she said.
“I ran outside and saw Justen performing CPR and he looked exhausted, so I took over.”
Soon after, paramedics arrived and delivered Ms Delaney a shock from a defibrillator which re-started her heart. She was then rushed to hospital where she spent just over two weeks before being discharged.
Six months on, Ms Delaney recently met with Ms Petch and Ms Earsman for the first time since they saved her life.
“It’s thanks to them that I’m able to be here for my kids and my husband going forward,” she said.
“My whole family are forever grateful to them – I had my guardian angels looking after me.”
Ms Earsmen said 23 years of CPR training through her work as a flight attendant made her feel confident helping Ms Delaney.
“I just instantly knew what to do – I didn’t think twice,” she said.
Despite doing similar training for his work, Mr Petch was much less confident, but surprised himself with how calm he was.
He said it felt overwhelming to have helped keep Ms Delaney alive.
“It really hit home when we were trying to get her contact details and you open up her wallet to look for licences and there’s a photo of her two children,” he said.
“To have been able to do something that meaningful is phenomenal.”
