'My partner died and it taught me a lot - years later I saved my husband's life'

09 July 2023 , 06:00

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Jason Riddington with his wife Faye who saved his life

When she heard the sickening thud from the hallway, Faye Riddington-Smith knew exactly what it was.

“I sat there for a couple of seconds on the couch because I didn’t want to confront reality,” recalls the Team GB show jumper. “For a brief moment I wanted to pretend it hadn’t happened. Then I sprang into action.”

Within moments she was performing CPR on her husband Jason, an actor who had suffered a catastrophic brain aneurysm.

Her quick thinking that day almost two years ago helped save his life, although the experience has changed them both.

And for Faye, 47, there is an added layer of poignancy and trauma around the experience, as it triggered memories of her former partner’s sudden collapse and another moment where she had to perform CPR to try to save a man she loved.

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“How can that happen twice to the same person?” asks Faye, shaking her head in bewilderment.

“They say life’s biggest stressors are bereavement, divorce and serious illness and I’ve seen all three. But no matter how tough something is, there is always a happy day again. You have to believe that.”

Chatting from the Buckinghamshire home she shares with 54-year-old Jason, the day we meet is one of those happy days for Faye, who combines her riding career with a business as a personal fitness trainer.

Jason and Faye on their wedding day

He pops by to say hello and they speak with the easy domestic shorthand of a couple who know each other inside out.

Yet in June 2021 things could have turned out very differently for them.

“Jason had been cycling and at some point as he went up a steep hill he felt as if a piece of elastic had snapped in his head,” Faye recalls. “He was sick on the ride back and again at home, but at the time I didn’t think too much of it.”

Not just a headache

Three days later and still complaining of a terrible headache, he returned from a failed shopping trip and collapsed in the hall.

“They call it a turn left moment, don’t they? When you make one choice or another. He chose to come back from the shop. If he had gone to the supermarket, who is to say if there would have been anyone around who knew CPR?”

Within moments Jason began to come round. “I called an ambulance but then he collapsed again. That’s when
he started to go blue and I began CPR,” says Faye.

“I was in a frenzy. It’s a frightening place being stuck in a hallway with someone who is essentially dying.

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“My last boyfriend died as a result of a cardiac arrest, so I knew all too well that the window where you can be of significant help is a narrow one.”

That first encounter with a sudden medical emergency came in the spring of 2012.

Faye and Max had been together for only a few months when the pair decided to get some fresh air – he was running, she was following on a bike – when tragedy struck.

Jason's book is available at Waterstones

“I knew he was on medication for his heart but he appeared fit and well. I actually joked when I saw his bottles of meds for the first time and he told me what they were for – ‘You won’t die, will you, because I won’t fall in love with you then.’

“I remember that day being at the top of a hill and he’d gone down the other side. As I got to the top I saw he’d collapsed.

“It was traumatic. I didn’t have a phone so I just carried on doing CPR until an ambulance arrived.”

She managed to do enough so that Max, who was in his late forties, could be taken to hospital and his family afforded the chance to say goodbye before he passed away.

“So I knew how serious things were with Jason. I couldn’t believe it was happening again,” says Faye.

After Jason was taken to hospital by air ambulance, doctors confirmed he had suffered a brain aneurysm and operated immediately.

The hours in the operating theatre were a success but Faye’s husband, who has appeared in Luther, EastEnders and Doctors, was not out of the woods.

Faye performed CPR on Jason and saved him

He developed bacterial meningitis and hydrocephalus [a build-up of fluid on the brain], undergoing further surgery several times. He also experienced seizures and underwent two near-death experiences. Of those who suffer similar issues, only 10% survive.

“I think the worst moment was when he had just had a drain taken out and fluid came spurting out of his head. I was terrified,” remembers Faye.

But there were lighter moments, too. Due to the hydrocephalus, Jason had symptoms similar to dementia.

“In hospital he got recognised from his Casualty days and asked me to print some photos of him so that he could sign them.

“I thought, ‘Of course I can, in between training 30-plus clients, mucking out horses and travelling here every day.’

“I was actually thankful that in five minutes he’d forget he’d asked.”

A different person now

After a month in hospital he went home but some of the hardest work was still ahead. “Jason is a different person now. In many ways it’s like a bereavement – there is grief because that old person has gone and another is in their place. For instance, he was a lot more active before he was ill and that makes me really sad.”

She also misses the “little things” – mornings spent in the yard together with their horses, the morning coffee ritual. “His brain fatigue has robbed us of those moments.”

But there have also been unexpected positives to draw upon.

“The experience has made me a lot calmer, more patient, kinder,” she says.

“Beforehand I might have said something sharp if he’d left a used spoon lying around. Now my words might upset him so I think before I speak.”

His roller-coaster journey also prompted Jason to write a book, Life, Death, Tai Chi And Me: My Brain Injury Journey.

Dedicated to Faye, who encouraged him to keep a journal through the darkest of his days, it catalogues his long road to recovery using the martial art and its system of slow, controlled movements. A second book, The Art Of Letting Go, is in the pipeline.

Faye herself remains upbeat and philosophical. “It’s hugely rewarding to help people, for instance with Jason’s book or with my clients,” she says.

“The fact I have been through so much myself I think gives me insight. I want to help people improve their lives.

“My thinking is that everything you go through is a gift – you become a better person for the experience – and out of s**t can grow roses.”

She pauses for a moment.

“This isn’t necessarily how I pictured my life, but I love Jason. Quitters never win and we’re definitely not quitters!

“Our journey together is still exciting. It’s just that the story now is a bit different.”

Sue Lee