Amazing rescue of stroke victim
Published: September 15, 2006
WHEN electrician Dave Milner failed to return home after a day at work, his worried wife contacted colleagues.
Concerned, friends Carl Howcroft and Andrew Makin decided to set out to retrace Mr Milner’s route that day by studying his jobsheet.
Mr Howcroft, of Lever Street, Radcliffe, and Mr Makin, of Parish Walk, Ainsworth, set off late at night and, amazingly, found their colleague slumped at the wheel of his company van at a telephone exchange in Eccles, after suffering a stroke.
He was struggling to breathe and doctors later said if he had been left another hour he would have died.
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Together with another workmate, Dave Platt, who received the initial worried call from Mr Milner’s wife, they were honoured this week by their bosses for their life-saving actions. The three all work for facilities management company Monteray Ltd.
The drama began on September 9 last year when Mr Milner (57) failed to return home in Ashton-under-Lyne.
His wife Barbara contacted Mr Platt, who lives in Didsbury, at around 11pm to ask if he knew where he was. He then phoned colleague, Mr Howcroft, who had access to the company’s computer system, to try to find Mr Milner’s last known location.
From the information, he discovered that Mr Milner had been to a telephone exchange in Eccles, so Mr Howcroft left his Radcliffe home, accompanied by Mr Makin to search for him. When they found Mr Milner collapsed in his van, Mr Makin put him into the recovery position until paramedics arrived. He was taken to Hope Hospital, where doctors found he had suffered a stroke around 12 hours earlier. They said he was in such a poor condition that he would have died within an hour if the pair had not found him.
Father-of-two Mr Milner spent 16 days in hospital and finally returned to work last month after making a full recovery.
He said: “I can’t remember anything that happened after about 10.30am that day, until three days later when I woke up in hospital. It is very scary to know that I would be dead if they hadn’t come looking for me. I owe them my life.”
The three men were presented with Monteray National Heroic Awards at a lavish ceremony onboard HMS Belfast on Tuesday. The awards are usually given to one employee in each region who has been especially helpful or saved money, but the company decided to forgo the rules on this occasion.
Mr Makin (36) said: “Dave’s wife was in a real panic because she had no idea where he was, so we had to go out and look for him. I’m sure I did what anyone else would have done. Dave’s life was on the line and he would have died if we hadn’t got there in time. The main thing is that he’s better now.”
Mr Howcroft (36), who has since been promoted to the role of supervisor, said: “I’m overwhelmed to be given the award. I’m just glad that Dave’s okay, because as well as being a colleague, he’s a good mate.”
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