Spectacular collapse brings out best

'I just wanted to say thank you,” said Sarah Davis. 'And sometimes it's nice to have a good news story.”

'[Instead of] Nasty people doing nasty things to other people.”


Sarah Davis had just left La Petit Four Café before she started to feel unwell. Photo: Daniel Hines.

She's not wrong there. Because on a black news week that painfully etched a three-year-old called Moko into the national conscience, claimed the life of a Christchurch sex worker in hideous circumstances, and the P-fuelled rape of a three-year-old in Whangarei, Sarah's story is cathartic for us all.

And ‘nasty' is definitely not Sarah's experience. 'Actually, it's nice to know the neighbours on the street; the majority of them, I would suggest, are actually the good guys.”

Because from the moment she became 'quite unwell” and collapsed in a heap in the Bay Central Shopping Centre in Chapel St, assistance from good, kind, compassionate people arrived from all directions.

'A whole lot of people were involved. I do not know them and I have no way of contacting them to thank them.” And Sarah says it just goes to show that when the chips are down, people are there for you.

Sarah and a friend had just finished a cup of tea at La Petit Four Café and were headed for a walk down the Daisy Hardwick track. 'I suddenly felt quite unwell and asked to be taken to the doctors.”

Moments later she was in a heap. Her legs had given out. 'And people came flocking, both from the café and pedestrians. I know there was a man with big boots and a Scottish woman. I was the woman in the fluro who decided to quite spectacularly collapse just outside the café.”

Sarah's one of an estimated 65,000 New Zealanders who live with panic attacks. 'I've had a few moments when I have thought ‘Okay, I will just breathe through this'. But I've never experienced one like that.”

It was something called a conscious collapse, an extreme panic attack. 'Obviously, people around me, as I did, suspected it was heart-related. The symptoms are similar.” Someone took off to get Aspirin, someone else took off to get a defibrillator.

'People were summoning ambulances, getting blankets. Someone was reassuring me, telling me I was going to be okay, which was something I really needed to hear.

'I have a feeling there was also a nurse there taking my pulse. Thank you for all your years of training.”

In a message to The Weekend Sun, Sarah says she's now sitting up in bed and typing a 'huge thank you because I made it.”

'It gives me a great deal of comfort to know there are such lovely people around who can look after a complete stranger in their time of need.

'What a lovely part of the world we live in.”

Sarah says she'll be back at the café for another cup of tea when she promises to behave. In the meantime Sarah's off for a week's recharging in the South Island with partner Steve. 'Thank you again everyone, you have no idea what you did for me, you are very special people.” Faith in humanity is restored, despite the dark headlines.

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1 comment

:-)

Posted on 28-05-2016 16:56 | By bexcoz

I am so glad to read this and find out you are okay...i drove past that morning when you were still sitting on the chair and saw the guy bringing a blanket to you...i wanted to stop and see if you were okay but there were already a few people with you so i thought i would be excess but i want you to know my thoughts were with you...it's nice to know that there are people that will step up and help when others need it! arohanui xoxo


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