Golden RetrieverGets a Medal

A vigilant golden retriever named Polly noticed something was off with her owner, Adam Cooke of Ireland, as he slept. Cooke was breathing strangely, which got Polly to bark until Cooke’s wife, Hannah, awoke to find her husband’s labored breathing. Then he stopped breathing altogether.

Hannah called emergency responders, who talked her through CPR while she waited for the ambulance to arrive. That took seven minutes, then the EMTs took over as they rushed Adam to the hospital. He woke up there six days later, recovering from a cardiac arrest.

The Cookes, from Ballinamallard in County Fermanagh, are convinced that four-year-old Polly had saved Adam’s life and so does the British Heart Foundation, which honored Polly as a “CPR Hero” last week.

“With a cardiac arrest, everything I've learned since, it all happens in seconds, and Polly gave me those seconds,” Hannah tells BBC News. “After she barked, she was silent. I would say Polly knew before it was even happening.”

Polly did not make the trip to London for the Heart Foundation’s CPR Hero event, where other honorees were feted, but the charity made special arrangements to present the dog with her medal closer to home, at her favorite walking spot.

The foundation hopes the Cooke’s story will encourage people to learn CPR. It might also encourage people to adopt a golden retriever.

Photo credit: British Heart Foundation via YouTube