P.E.I. musician's on-stage heart attack prompts audience to jump into action

A Charlottetown man who suffered a heart attack while playing onstage last weekend at a local bar says he owes his life to people in the audience who jumped into action.

They just had one more try, and that's what did it. Jerry Laird

Two women in the crowd who had medical training hopped on stage and didn't give up trying to revive the musician.

Registered nurse Colleen Murphy and her friends had just started coming to the Saturday blues jam at The Factory Cookhouse & Dancehall a couple of months ago.

Jerry Laird was in the middle of playing one of his own tunes when he crumpled to the floor.

He had no pulse.

Nurse and friend jump to save musician's life

9 years ago

Duration 1:49

Colleen Murphy and her friend were quick to jump into action when a Charlottetown musician Jerry Laird fell to the stage after a heart attack.

Murphy started doing mouth-to-mouth resuscitation, while her friend began chest compressions.

Ten minutes later, two paramedics arrived and took over. And then another EMS arrived and started defibrillation.

'I was losing a little hope'

Murphy said things were not looking good after the fourth jolt.

"I was losing a little hope by that time myself," she said.

It felt like everybody was praying or willing him to live.- Colleen Murphy

"They had already given him two different medications. We shocked him four times and at this point I'm thinking, it's about 30 minutes of CPR and it seemed to me like this just was not going to end properly."

On the fifth jolt, Laird began breathing and the crowd that was gripped by the drama onstage, broke into cheers.

"It felt like everybody was praying or willing him to live," said Murphy.

Laird is currently in hospital in Halifax waiting for a triple bypass.

He says he's doing OK thanks to strangers who breathed life back into him.

"How amazing these people are that would just not give up, that they just went above and beyond," said Laird

"Like, if they would have stopped at the normal time limits, the normal defibrillator things, I wouldn't have been here. They just had one more try, and that's what did it."