“Ryan is a hero. I wouldn’t be here without him”: Firearms officer saves the life of fellow holidaymaker

PC Ryan Mutlow knew something was seriously wrong when the band stopped playing.

He could hear screams and the singer was on the mic asking if someone needed a doctor.

For the 200 holidaymakers gathered around the hotel pool in Costa Adeje, Tenerife, the show was over.

Firearms officer Ryan and his wife, Emma, a neighbourhood policing PC, had been enjoying the entertainment with friends but immediately put their holiday on hold and ran to help.

They found Trevor Butt, 53, laid out on a bed outside his room. His wife, Maxine, was understandably distraught.

Trevor had told her he felt unwell and suddenly collapsed. “It was like a light going out. I could even hear the click,” he later said.

A pair of retired nurses had put Trevor in the recovery position thinking he’d passed out. As Trevor wasn’t breathing and he couldn’t find a pulse, Ryan quickly realised Trevor’s heart had stopped.

He immediately started CPR only for the nurses to try and drag him off.

“I had to tell them, ‘Get off me, I know what I’m doing - he’s in cardiac arrest!’” Ryan said.

With Emma supporting Maxine, Ryan worked on Trevor. They were joined by a doctor from Broomfield Hospital who felt for a pulse in Trevor’s groin. She confirmed Ryan’s diagnosis and monitored the pulse as Ryan administered chest compressions.

They called for a defibrillator and, using a waiter to translate from Spanish to confirm Trevor’s heart was in a shockable rhythm, gave him four shocks, bringing him back from the brink each time.

Ryan and the doctor fought to keep Trevor alive as his pulse weakened. By the time an ambulance arrived, Ryan been performing CPR for an astonishing 45 minutes.

“It’s a long time to be doing CPR but I had to keep pushing hard,” Ryan said. “I don’t know whether it was the adrenaline or the all-inclusive drinks, I just kept going.”

Trevor was taken to a local hospital where he suffered a further cardiac arrest and had 10 more shocks with a defibrillator. An ECG revealed he had a genetic condition that causes irregular electrical activity in the heart.

In the aftermath of Trevor’s collapse, Maxine said Emma was “an angel” for the way she helped with a lot of the practicalities. The couple’s son, Owen, flew to Tenerife to join his mum and thanked Ryan and Emma for saving his dad.

After being flown back to the UK, Trevor had an implantable cardioverter-defibrillator fitted at Northampton General Hospital. He finally returned to the family home in Duston just over a month after first falling ill.

The two families remained in touch as Trevor’s condition improved, and when he and Maxine decided to renew their wedding vows after 25 years of marriage, Ryan and Emma joined the couple for an emotional reunion.

“I get goosebumps now thinking about it,” said Ryan. “We were honoured to be invited. The family knew who we were and as Trevor came in, they moved aside and we had a hug. It was a very emotional moment.

“When I’ve done CPR at work, the person is taken off in an ambulance and you never see them again. When you meet the family and you see the emotion in their faces and they’re thanking you, you start to realise the impact you’ve had. It’s something that I will always keep with me and be proud of. Life is very precious.”

Remarkably, at the ceremony the couples learned they were soon both set to return to Tenerife to same resort at the same time, exactly a year on from the cardiac arrest.

On the anniversary of the incident, Trevor, Maxine, Ryan and Emma sat sipping drinks at a beach bar, a far cry from the dramatic events 12 months earlier.

For Trevor and Maxine, life has changed but the couple say they are happier than ever.

Trevor was forced to give up his job as an HGV driver but now works as a school caretaker, and since his spell in hospital he’s developed a new softer side, even shedding the odd tear on occasions, much to Maxine’s surprise.

They have both taken on charity challenges, with Maxine running a hundred miles in February in aid of the British Heart Foundation.

“My whole world got turned upside down,” said Trevor. “I was told in hospital that just nine per cent of people survive a sudden cardiac arrest.

“Ryan is a hero. I wouldn’t be here without him. There’s not a day when I don’t think of Ryan and Emma. Without them, my son wouldn’t have a dad and Maxine would be on her own.

“They say you only get one life and you’ve got to live it, but I’ve had two, and the second one’s better than the first, and it’s all thanks to Ryan and Emma. We’ll be friends for life. I’m so grateful, I can’t thank them enough.”

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