Georgie's Big Greek Wedding?. Emily Forbes

going with the chest compressions while we do a quick assessment,’ Josh instructed as he extracted a pair of thin surgical gloves from a pocket in his jumpsuit and pulled them on. ‘You’re doing fine. Keep going.’

      Georgie also pulled on gloves, before kneeling in the red dirt beside Gus. He was lying on his back but there was a depression over his left temple and blood had seeped out of his ear. He must have landed on his head and hit the ground hard enough to fracture his skull. That was not a good start.

      Josh was holding Gus’s wrist, feeling for a pulse. He looked at Georgie and shook his head. Nothing. He quickly checked inside Gus’s mouth, assessing the airway.

      ‘I’ll take over now,’ he told the station hands, and they didn’t argue about relinquishing their role.

      Georgie worked with Josh, breathing through a face mask, breathing for Gus, but there was no change. During the flight they’d planned to establish an airway, make sure he had oxygen and get IV access. They hadn’t planned on resuscitating him.

      Josh continued with chest compressions. Georgie continued breathing. There was no change. He still had no pulse.

      ‘I don’t think chest compressions are going to be enough,’ Georgie said. It had been more than three minutes and normal CPR procedure was getting them nowhere.

      Josh nodded. ‘I’ll draw up adrenaline.’

      On the assumption that doing something was better than nothing and knowing that chest compressions were more important than breathing, Georgie continued pumping Gus’s chest while Josh searched through the medical kit. He drew up a syringe and felt for a space between the ribs before he pierced the left side of Gus’s chest wall with the needle and depressed the plunger, injecting adrenaline directly into the heart muscle.

      Georgie held her breath. Waiting. Her fingers on Gus’s carotid artery.

      There was a flutter of a pulse.

      ‘We’ve got him.’

      ‘Get some oxygen into him.’

      Georgie started breathing air into Gus again while Josh pulled an endotracheal tube and laryngoscope from the kit. It looked as though they’d be doing another intubation.

      Georgie did two breaths. She had Gus’s head tipped back slightly and the fingers of her right hand were under his chin, resting over his carotid pulse. His pulse was barely evident. She stopped her breaths and shifted her fingers, searching for a stronger pulse. She couldn’t find it.

      ‘Josh, I’ve lost the pulse.’