Fighting For Your Life: A Paramedic's Story

Product Description 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. Book Description Real-life stories of heartbreak and hope, direct from the very frontline of the NHS. About the Author 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 qualified first as a nurse then as a paramedic and finally an emergency care practitioner, spending over twenty years saving lives in the UK. She still works shifts in a London Urgent Care centre but is at her happiest when spending time in her old farmhouse nestled deep in the chestnut forests, in the mountains of Tuscany, nursing a glass of prosecco and, finally, living the dream.