Hello, We are the family of Willy Darragh.

Sadly Willy passed away on 21st December 2024 of a heart attack.

At 7.05pm his wife Caroline phoned for an ambulance after he was experiencing extreme chest pain, Willy had a heart attack 11 years prior resulting in him having stents in place. This was made extremely clear to the 999 operator, but because Willy was still responsive he was classed as a category 2.

During the last hour of a NIAS shift (which that day the shift ended at 7.30pm) if an ambulance crew is at a station during this time (6.30-7.30pm that day) due to the action short off strike, they don’t attend a call unless it’s is deemed a category 1.

This to us as a family was devastating to hear as at the time of Caroline’s call 7.05pm there was 6 ambulances at base across the northern trust, one of them being 10 minutes away from where he needed them most.

During the first 999 call Caroline was advised to drive him to Antrim area hospital herself. So she did but 10 minutes away from the hospital Willy went unresponsive, Caroline called 999 again and called down a random stranger they got willy out of the car onto the cold wet ground and started CPR.

This time the ambulance was able to attend within 4 minutes. - but too late at this stage.

Willy was blue lighted to Antrim area hospital where they worked on him for an extended length of time but nothing could bring him back to us.

We as a family have met with NIAS and since hearing what we were told have been doing what we can to highlight the flaws in the system. We have spoke about Willy’s story on UTV news and the Nolan show as-well as working with local papers to get his story out there.

But not only do we want to make sure to spread awareness, we want to do what we can to help the problem.

Since this happened we have became aware of a charity organisation called the community first responders - A Community First Responder (CFR) is a volunteer who is trained to respond to 999 calls in their local area, often arriving at the scene of an emergency before an ambulance, to provide immediate, life-saving first aid and support until professional help arrives.

CFRs are volunteers, not paid employees, who dedicate their time to help their communities. They receive specialised training in first aid, CPR, and the use of equipment like automated external defibrillators (AEDs).

Willy Darragh raised £74,000 for the NHS during Covid, he was a kind man who did what he could to help.

We only hope as a family now we can raise enough to make him proud and make a difference.