Mum-of-two Melissa Hartman revived after suffering cardiac arrest
Melissa Hartman was 31 years old when her heart suddenly stopped while she was getting ready for a date one August afternoon.
The mother-of-two had no idea that she had suffered a cardiac arrest and flatlined for 20 minutes after a coughing fit.
'I was a bit nervous for the date but not nervous enough to have a bloody cardiac arrest,' the now 35-year-old told The Advertiser.
Luckily, Ms Hartman organised for a friend to visit before her date and he arrived just as she collapsed.
'He found me on the floor, I had no pulse and had stopped breathing,' she said.
'He was straight onto the CPR.'
Paramedics arrived and administered seven shocks of a defibrillator and three rounds of adrenaline to stabilise Ms Hartman.
With a less than one per cent chance of survival, she was placed into an induced coma at Flinders Hospital for a week.
'For the first 48 hours, nobody expected me to survive at all,' she said.
Despite all odds, the Christie Downs woman made it.
But when she flatlined, on the floor her home she said she had a 'death experience' and saw a 'white light'.
'It was so bloody peaceful and calm and I wasn't even tired, it was just amazing,' she said.
'That was a miracle in itself, not feeling exhausted and chronically fatigued.'
She said since being revived she's attempted to feel that again.
Following her episode, Ms Hartman refers to the day as her 'birthday'.
'I've come back for a reason,' she said.
She said by calling it her 'birthday' it allows the people closest to her to feel better about it.
'Mum still has it in her mind, (as) when she got the call,' she said.
'It helps her heal.'
Eventually, when Ms Hartman was brought out of a coma she was transferred to ICU.
Doctors eventually discovered two benign brain tumours — which are still present.
She also spent six weeks in Hampstead Rehabilitation Centre where she learnt how to walk, talk, eat and read again after suffering a brain injury.
'After only a week in the coma, I'd lost everything — I had to learn who my kids were again,' she said.
Ms Hartman, who is a single mum, said her children, Ayla, 8 and Mason, 11, were the reason she pushed through rehabilitation.
She said she didn't want to have a carer 'raise' her children.
'If I didn't have my kids, I'd still be in a bed in hospital now,' she said.
'I'm not going to have my kids watching me lay down and admit defeat.
'If I can come back from the dead, they can get up and clean their rooms.'
Ms Hartman, who lives with a hypoxic brain injury, is emceeing the Brain Injury South Australia launch event marking Brain Awareness Week on August 18, 2025.
She wants to spread awareness about the importance of learning CPR.
Originally published as Mum-of-two Melissa Hartman bought back from the dead after suffering cardiac arrest
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Herald Sun
14 hours ago
- Herald Sun
St John Ambulance urge Victorian government not to fall behind other states on defibrillator rollout
Don't miss out on the headlines from News. Followed categories will be added to My News. The state government has been urged to follow South Australia and mandate defibrillators in public buildings. St John Ambulance Victoria, which launched its Defib In Your Street program in Werribee on Friday, said the move could save thousands of lives. 'More than 7500 Victorians suffer a sudden cardiac arrest every year and survival relies on quick access to a defibrillator and training the community in its use,' chief executive Gordon Botwright said. St John has placed more than 90 Automatic External Defibrillators (AED) in Victoria across Reservoir, St Albans and Sunshine, plus trained 12,500 community members in CPR in the past three years. The Defib In Your Street program aims to reduce time to access a defibrillator in a bid to increase survival rates of people suffering Sudden Cardiac Arrest by providing free training and greater access to more public defibrillators. The area of Werribee located in Wyndham City Council is home to more than 28,000 people across a 12.7 sq km area, but St John Ambulance data shows it the only has three publicly-accessible defibrillators available 24-hours a day. 'It's literally a case where every second counts … with every extra minute that a person is in cardiac arrest, their chances of surviving fall by 10 per cent,' Mr Botwright said. 'Since initiating Defib In Your Street in 2022, we have installed more than 90 defibrillators in Melbourne suburbs with a high incidence of sudden cardiac arrest, and we have substantially reduced the time needed to access a defibrillator. 'The state government needs to follow the lead of SA where more than 1000 defibrillators have been installed, so we can work together and improve access to these lifesaving devices for all Victorians. Latrobe University data of the Defib In Your Street pilot program found that in Reservoir the program reduced travel time for residents to their nearest defibrillator by 2.32 minutes (68 per cent), and doubled AED coverage for cardiac arrests. Werribee resident and retired firefighter George Andrews praised the St John program and encouraged local community members to get involved. 'Having had first-hand experience in conducting CPR on a neighbour … I know how vital timing is in improving survival rates, so I didn't think twice about becoming the first person to host a public access defibrillator,' Mr Andrews said. 'The AED units are very easy to operate so if we can improve access to them by increasing the numbers in the suburb, we will have a far greater chance of saving precious lives,' he said. St John plans to make 30 publicly-available defibrillators (PADs) accessible in Werribee to ensure there is one every 400m.
Herald Sun
a day ago
- Herald Sun
Palliative Care Victoria alarmed at lack of funding to help terminally ill Victorians
Don't miss out on the headlines from Victoria. Followed categories will be added to My News. Dying Victorians are being forced on to waiting lists for palliative care or being pushed into overcrowded hospitals instead of receiving care at home because of funding shortfalls, experts warn. Kelly Rogerson, chair of Palliative Care Victoria, has sounded the alarm that the state's at-home care system is in crisis following years of underfunding by the Victorian government, with at least an extra $20m needed to restore service levels. She revealed that 79 people die each day in Victoria without access to palliative care, and that terminally ill patients are frequently told to seek treatment in hospitals rather than stay at home due to budget issues. 'It just doesn't make sense,' Ms Rogerson said. 'We've got this massive increase of our ageing population and terminal illness trajectories, but we're a small piece of focus from a Department of Health point of view. 'People are only getting care in the last weeks of their life rather than actually living well, which is what palliative care is all about.' Data from Palliative Care Victoria showed 62 per cent of people who wanted to die at home were actually being admitted to hospital instead. Ms Rogerson added this was resulting in huge 'pressure on hospitals' and called for an urgent funding injection from the Allan government to help struggling services. Her call comes after funding was cut in the 2024-25 budget. This was despite a report in 2022, commissioned by Palliative Care Victoria, which found 75 per cent of service providers don't believe they can meet future demand, with a projected $91m annual shortfall in the state's sector by 2025. In comparison, in NSW the sector was boosted in 2022 with an extra $734m to be injected into the end-of-life care system over five years. Despite warnings of underfunding, a Victorian government spokesperson said: 'Every Victorian deserves access to compassionate, high-quality end-of-life care when and where they need it.' 'We've invested more than $182m to expand access to palliative care across Victoria, including year on year increase.' Opposition health spokeswoman Georgie Crozier slammed the state's action on the issue as tone deaf. 'Labor needs to immediately correct the underfunding of essential palliative care services, so that support and dignity can be provided to those patients at the end of their life,' she said. In one case raised with the Herald Sun a mother-of-three dying of cancer was not able to get assistance for help to care for her young children due to funding issues.
Herald Sun
2 days ago
- Herald Sun
New data shows why Australians struggle to ask R U OK?
Don't miss out on the headlines from Mental Health. Followed categories will be added to My News. A fear of offending by saying the wrong thing is holding many Australians back from checking in on those they are concerned about. A new survey by suicide prevention charity R U OK? has exposed the reasons why a third of us hesitate to reach out to those we suspect are struggling. Concerns about invading people's privacy, or not knowing how to help, were the other top factors. But overwhelmingly, the research found when people were asked how they were going, they felt 'grateful and supported'. Most Australians (three in four) also believed it was important to reach out. The findings have been released exclusively to News Corp Australia in the lead-up to R U OK? Day on September 11. The barriers to mental health conversations have been the focus of News Corp Australia's Can We Talk? campaign with Medibank, which this week is exploring relationships. The campaign is aimed at equipping Aussies with the skills needed to open up about the most important topic in our lives. Psychologist Annie Fardell Hartley said a simple conversation could make a big difference. 'These conversations matter and they're often more welcome than we think,' Ms Fardell Hartley, an R U OK? board member, said. 'People don't expect you to have all the answers or the perfect words. 'They value trust, genuine care, and someone who really listens.' Encouragingly, the charity said the research had revealed a third of Australians had been checking in with others more often over the past year. R U OK? ambassador Mahir Munot. Picture: Supplied For Mahir Munot, 19, a simple conversation at a critical point in his life proved 'life-changing'. Just days before his Year 12 exams, he found himself at his lowest ebb after bullying he had endured in the past resurfaced. 'I was in tears on the bus when a teacher sitting across from me asked, 'Are you OK?',' Mr Munot, who has since become a community ambassador for the charity, recalled. 'I was feeling completely shattered, and couldn't step forward and take any action. 'But that conversation on the bus was the reason I ended up opening up to my family and community that night.' Can We Talk? is a News Corp awareness campaign, in partnership with Medibank, helping Australian families better tackle mental wellbeing. To follow the series and access all stories, tips and advice, visit our new Health section.
