Shellharbour Mayor's Split-Second Decision Saves Deputy's Life

A mayor's split-second decision to answer a phone call instead of heading into the surf may well have saved the life of Shellharbour councillor Kellie Marsh. Ms Marsh, the council's deputy mayor, is recovering in intensive care at Sydney's Prince of Wales Hospital after collapsing at home last Friday morning, where she suffered seizures caused by two ruptured aneurysms that triggered subarachnoid haemorrhages (bleeding between the brain and the tissues that cover it). The call came while Shellharbour Mayor Chris Homer was on holidays on the South Coast, just as he was about to head into the water at North Manyana. "I was in holiday mode, sunscreen on, rash vest on, board ready," Cr Homer said. "I was just about to close the back hatch of the car when I saw Councillor Marsh ringing." Cr Homer said the pair had been speaking for about five minutes when Ms Marsh began fading during the call. "I know Kellie gets really bad migraines, so I thought it might be something she'd normally shake off," he said. "But she became unresponsive. I kept saying, 'Kellie, Kellie, are you there?.'" "She made a couple of strange noises and said she could see starry-eyed things, then she faded right out of the conversation." Realising something was seriously wrong, Cr Homer ended the call and rang Ms Marsh's 23-year-old son Nathan. "I said, 'Listen Nathan, I was on the phone to your mum and she was unresponsive, can you go and check on her?'" Nathan found his mother collapsed on the bathroom floor. "He found Kellie foaming at the mouth and unresponsive," Cr Homer said. The mayor called Triple Zero (000) while Nathan and neighbours began assisting at the scene. Cr Marsh was transported to Wollongong Hospital before being rushed to Sydney, where she has since undergone two surgeries. 'I'm still here' Speaking from the intensive care unit, Cr Marsh said she had little memory of the incident itself. "I'm good, I'm still here, so I'm definitely good," she said. "I just remember my vision got quite funny. I do get migraines badly, but this was different." Cr Marsh later learned she had suffered seizures and collapsed. Cr Homer said the outcome was thanks to incredible timing, trust and teamwork. "It really came down to about 10 seconds, choosing to pick up the phone instead of closing the hatch and going for a surf," he said. "Cr Marsh and I are really close. "She's the best deputy mayor a mayor could have; when I delegate my role to Kellie, I can actually switch off and trust everything's being taken care of." Cr Marsh said she was overwhelmed by the support she had received. "I just feel blessed. I feel really lucky," she said. Cr Homer said even days later, the moment still weighed on him. Timing important Jorn Van Der Veken, a researcher and consultant neurosurgeon at Flinders Medical Centre and the Royal Adelaide Hospital, said a cerebral aneurysm was "an abnormal out pouch or a bulge on one of the arteries in the brain," which occurred because part of the artery had become weaker. Dr Van Der Veken said there were different risk factors for developing an aneurysm and for rupture. "There's factors due to lifestyle habits such as smoking and hypotension — they're the most important modifiable risk factors," he said. The doctor said non-modifiable risks included gender and genetics. "Being a woman predisposes you more than men for developing aneurysms … [and] there is definitely a genetic component to it," he said. Dr Van Der Veken said aneurysms usually caused no symptoms unless they ruptured. "When they rupture it's an absolute horrible type of headache," he said He said timing was "very, very important in the management of these pathologies," and urgent emergency and neurosurgical care was critical to stabilise the patient and prevent a second bleed. He said aneurysms occurred in about two to five per cent of the population, but rupture was rare, affecting around six Australians per 100,000 each year, with higher rates in women.