A Bristol truck driver’s life was saved after he suffered an extreme reaction to a bee sting. Paul Stallard was on site at the distribution centre where he works and chatting to co-workers when he felt a stinging sensation at the back of his neck.
Paul, from Kingswood, said: “I’ve been stung over the years by insects and have never had a reaction. We were all stood chatting and I felt a sting at the back of my neck. I think it was a worker bee and I managed to get the sting out.
“We carried on chatting when I started to get a hot face and then I felt hot all over,” he said. Paul sat down to put his head between his legs and his co-worker, Alex Williams asked if he was feeling alright.
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Paul said: “Alex got a glass of water, I took one sip of water and that’s the last thing I remember. Alex recognised I was going into anaphylactic shock. She got me round the corner where I collapsed.
“My face and tongue swelled up. I don’t remember a lot as I kept coming in and out, but I could see Alex talking to me but I couldn’t hear. Alex took over and did what she needed to do, she took control. She was my guardian angel,” he said.
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Alex, from Yate, has done first aid training and said she saw her friend was in trouble. She said: “I had come back from getting coffee and Paul told me he’d been stung by a bee, he was talking for a couple of minutes and everything seemed fine.
“Then he sat down on the crash barrier. I asked him if he was okay and got him some water. When he took a sip he started dribbling. It was a very scary situation, very worrying at the time.
“I knew it was anaphylactic shock, I recognised it immediately,” she said. As she and colleagues took Paul around the corner, he collapsed and she got him into the correct position.
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“She said: “He was unconscious, so we put him into the recovery position. He was swelling up, so we turned him on his back and tilted his head back to keep his airway open so he could breathe.
“He was not breathing properly and Paul would open and close his eyes, but his pulse was weak and breathing extremely shallow. I was able to explain on the 999 call that he was deteriorating quickly, my main concern was that his airway would become constricted,” she said.
Paramedics from Avon Fire and Rescue Service and Wiltshire Air Ambulance Service attended the scene. Both Paul and Alex praised the rapid response and treatment by the paramedics who worked at the scene for an hour to save Paul’s life. Alex, who has a ‘massive phobia’ about needles and blood, said: “While the paramedics were working, I kept talking to Paul and had to push my fears out of the window.”
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Paul was rushed to Southmead Hospital and discharged later the same day. Having had such a severe allergic reaction, he said he now has to carry an EpiPen. Having just become a grandfather three weeks ago, he said: “It was amazing that such a small thing could do so much damage. It was very scary, Alex was fantastic, brilliant, she saved my life, she did a grand job.”
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