Fighting For Your Life: A paramedic's story
By (Author) Lysa Walder
John Blake Publishing Ltd
John Blake Publishing Ltd
28th April 2020
2nd April 2020
United Kingdom
General
Non Fiction
True stories of heroism, endurance and survival
First aid and paramedical services
616.025092
Paperback
304
Width 197mm, Height 130mm, Spine 16mm
215g
A teenage boy lies on the pavement, bleeding from a stab wound; a distraught mum watches, in mute shock, as her daughter suffers a terrifying fatal asthma attack; a young girl is gang-raped and her stricken boyfriend takes an overdose; a disturbed young man flings himself in front of a speeding train at the stroke of midnight on New Year's Eve.
Few people can imagine living in a world where such situations are part of everyday life. Yet for veteran paramedic Lysa Walder, these and thousands of other emergency call outs are part of a day's work: scenes of tragedy, heroism loss and horror - but also stories of triumph and humour.
Lysa has been a paramedic for over twenty years, working for the London Ambulance service - the world's biggest and busiest free service - for much of that time. Here, she reveals what it's really like to work in a job that brings paramedic teams face-to-face with death - and destiny - every day.
London-born Lysa left school to join a travelling circus, working in Europe for four years as an acrobat and ring-mistress. In a slight change of direction, she then qualified as a paramedic and emergency care practitioner, spending over fifteen years saving lives in the UK. She can usually now be found hiking over Italian mountains in aid of various good causes.