Original Wiggles member Greg Page collapsed and went into cardiac arrest at a bushfire relief concert in Sydney on Friday night.
The original Yellow Wiggle was taken to Westmead hospital after falling to the ground as he left the stage at Castle Hill RSL. He is now recovering following surgery for a coronary occlusion.
Paramedics said Page, 48, was alive because of the actions of an off-duty nurse who was attending the concert and jumped on stage to assist, using the RSLs defibrillator and leading resuscitation efforts.
He was out for 20 minutes, the woman, named Grace, told reporters on Saturday. We gave him three shocks [with the defibrillator]. I took charge. I did not mean to, but I did. I walked in and I think I was the only one there who had any training, first aid training. So I just started to do what I do at work.
A paramedic from Ambulance New South Wales who responded to the triple-0 call said Grace saved Pages life.
When I was on stage and Greg was stabilised I asked who the person who used the defibrillator was, and Grace anxiously stepped forward, he said. I told she needed to be congratulated because she had saved the mans life. She did an extraordinary job and it was only through her efforts, and those who also performed CPR, that Greg is alive.
The groups manager, Paul Field, said Page was expected to be in hospital for some time.
He was in such a serious way last night, he told Channel Seven. He needed CPR, we had two of our cast and crew working on him. They used a defibrillator on him three times. He was in a bad way.
The ambulance took him [to Westmead hospital]. I was so relieved that the blood was back in his face, he was talking, he was quite groggy. It was overwhelming relief.
Field said the performer had stopped breathing and had to be revived several times.
Steve, the drummer, and Kim, who works in our office, did CPR, they saved his life, he said. Ive got to tell you, if theres a lesson from that its great to have people learn CPR.
The Wiggles official Twitter account said early on Saturday: As has been reported, our friend Greg Page suffered a cardiac arrest at the end of the bushfire relief performance and was taken to hospital.
He has had a procedure and is now recovering in hospital. We appreciate your kind messages and concern.
The original Wiggles line-up of Page and Anthony Field, Murray Cook and Jeff Fatt were performing the first of two planned fundraisers for the bushfire relief effort.
Page left the childrens band in 2006 due to poor health and returned for a second stint in 2012.
In 2006 he revealed he was suffering from orthostatic intolerance, which caused problems with the function of his heart when standing.
Scary stuff. This is the second time the original line up has got together for a run of 18+ pub shows.
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