![\"Adam,](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/3a9d12e3-f9eb-439b-bfe7-db521ad606c6.jpg\")
<\/p>\nIt comes as pooch Polly is being honoured at the Heart Hero awards in London later this evening in a glittering ceremony hosted by broadcaster Vernon Kay and organised by the British Heart Foundation.<\/p>\n
Polly received the CPR award for saving the life of her owner, Adam Cooke, when 39-year-old Adam had a cardiac arrest in his sleep in March 2024.<\/p>\n
A keen runner \u2013 Adam described the day he suffered his cardiac arrest as a \u201cnormal\u201d Monday in March when he went to work and later came home, before going for his \u201cusual\u201d evening run.<\/p>\n
\u201cHannah and I put our son Alfie, who was one at the time, to bed and then went to bed ourselves around 9.30pm,\u201d Adam said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe next thing I remember was six days later, waking up in the cardiac ward in hospital.\u201d<\/p>\n
Adam\u2019s wife, Hannah (33) said she woke up around 12.45am to their dog Polly barking, which she described as \u201cunusual\u201d during the night.<\/p>\n
She then noticed Adam breathing \u201cnoisily\u201d and sat bolt upright in bed.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Adam, Hannah and Polly Cooke at home<\/p>\n
\u201cI previously worked as a carer, and it hit me that it was the same noise I\u2019ve heard when people are taking their final breaths,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Hannah immediately rang the emergency services and they advised her to pull Adam off the bed and onto the floor and start CPR.<\/p>\n
Hannah continued: \u201cAdam is so much bigger than I am so I really don\u2019t know how I got the strength to do it, but I managed to roll him off the bed and the call handler talked me through CPR. He was amazing at keeping me focused on what I had to do, as I was completely terrified.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I was giving Adam CPR, I could tell his whole body was fighting to come back. Sometimes he would open his eyes and I was shouting \u201cthis isn\u2019t your time to go.\u201d<\/p>\n
After around seven minutes, the ambulance, community responder and two paramedics all arrived to take over from Hannah.<\/p>\n
\u201cI collapsed outside the room in complete shock and a neighbour ran in and helped me,\u201d she explained.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe paramedics continued CPR and used a defibrillator to shock Adam back to life.\u201d<\/p>\n
The paramedics shocked Adam seven times in total between his house and the hospital before they could get his heart rate normalised.<\/p>\n
He was then taken to ICU in the local hospital and Hannah said there was \u201cindescribable relief\u201d felt when the doctor told her Adam had survived.<\/p>\n
\u201cPolly alerted me, possibly within seconds of Adam\u2019s cardiac arrest, she was the first responder,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause of her, I was able to start CPR almost immediately. The paramedics and first responders were amazing, they arrived so quickly and took action immediately.\u201d<\/p>\n
Adam was in hospital for three and a half weeks for monitoring and testing before an ICD (Implantable Cardioverter Defibrillator) was fitted and he was discharged.<\/p>\n
He has since received a number of genetic tests and screening tests at Belfast City Hospital where he has been given a diagnosis of dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) which makes it harder for your heart to pump blood out of your heart and around your body.<\/p>\n
The Co Fermanagh man has since recovered well and has adapted his fitness routine after previously using running as a form of exercise for more than 20 years.<\/p>\n
![\"Polly](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/93a485ba-2524-4eda-bdc9-da58a7f5fc69.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
Polly Cooke who saved her owners life <\/p>\n
\u201cMy resting heart rate was usually around 38 \u2013 in the hospital after my cardiac arrest they said I had a heart rate of an Olympic athlete, and this worked in my favour for recovery,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have recovered extremely well but instead of running as much, I have adapted and generally enjoy being outdoors keeping fit.\u201d<\/p>\n
Adam said that he is alive and well today thanks to his \u201chighly perceptive\u201d pup Polly and his wife Hannah who came to his aid.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat Hannah and Polly did the night I almost lost my life was incredible and I have an overwhelming feeling of gratitude,\u201d said Adam.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe know we have a very special dog with Polly, all dogs have strong instincts, but she is highly perceptive to noise and if anyone in the family is unwell, she stays by their side and is such a comfort.\u201d<\/p>\n
![](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/1764080185_215_video.jpg\")
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When he was in hospital recovering, no dogs were allowed for visiting but his dad would often bring Polly to the window beside his ward which he said \u201clifted\u201d his spirits.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I got out of hospital, I\u2019ll never forget seeing Polly again and knowing how she had intervened that night. I just cuddled her and cried for 20 minutes,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m such an animal lover and I genuinely feel animals have a large role to play in recovery. They are so in tune with people\u2019s health, especially with their owners.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hannah and Adam have said the experience has given them \u201ca new perspective\u201d and a \u201csecond chance of life\u201d and are delighted to be welcoming their second child next year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It comes as pooch Polly is being honoured at the Heart Hero awards in London later this evening…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":592964,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5011],"tags":[8819,1248,1144,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-592963","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-northern-ireland","8":"tag-amy-cochrane","9":"tag-fermanagh-news","10":"tag-northern-ireland","11":"tag-uk","12":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115610766836073057","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/592963","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=592963"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/592963\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/592964"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=592963"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=592963"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=592963"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}