General News
20 October, 2025
‘Everything was against him’: Ralf’s miracle survival after cardiac arrest
It took more than 40 minutes of CPR and 12 shocks in total with a defibrillator before Ralf Schuback's pulse returned.
After experiencing chest pain while unloading fertiliser from his truck at a farm in Kaniva earlier this year, Mr Schuback's symptoms came to the attention of farmhand Ethan Freemantle, who was concerned enough to call Triple Zero.
Mr Freemantle's actions, along with those of the numerous other first responders who attended to Mr Schuback, proved to be life-saving, and because of their responses, the 65-year-old is alive to share his story.
As part of Ambulance Victoria's campaign "Shocktober", Mr Schuback was recently reunited with some of the people who helped save his life, including the farmhand and a local team of AV Ambulance Community Officers, who began his critical, life-saving care.
“When someone that age is having heart trouble, I thought even if the ambulance comes and it’s nothing, it’s better than leaving it to chance,” Mr Freemantle said.
“It was a hot day, so Ralf went into the truck with the air conditioning on and lay down.
“In the end, I timed it pretty well – I wouldn’t have wanted to wait much longer to call.”
Off-duty Kaniva ACO Stacey Rabone was nearby and saw the alert on her pager, so she went to see if she could help.
She arrived to find Ralf in the cabin of the truck having an ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI), a severe heart attack where blood flow to the heart is completely blocked and without quick treatment, it can cause the heart to stop and lead to cardiac arrest.
Soon, Ms Rabone was joined by more of the Kaniva ACO team - both off and on duty - and as they arrived, Mr Schuback went into cardiac arrest.
“He was in the most awful position for us to get to,” Kaniva ACO team leader Michael Hodges said.
“In the truck, you’ve got two comfortable seats with high backs, and then there’s a centre console.
"We couldn’t actually get into the bunk where Ralf was, so when we started CPR, one of us had to lean over the seat to maintain his airway, and the other had to lean over the centre console and do compressions.
"There was no room to move.”
Despite the challenges, the ACOs gave high-quality CPR, using a bag-valve-mask to give manual ventilations and applied a defibrillator, giving the first of the 12 shocks they would deliver.
Mr Freemantle also took turns to continue chest compressions and use the bag-valve-mask.
“My mum is a first aid trainer and I’d done CPR at a first aid course before, but never on a person," he said.
"It didn’t matter, though, I knew there was a job that needed doing to help the cause."
Mr Freemantle and the ACOs continued efforts with resuscitation, with support from a crew of growing first responders – including paramedics from South Australia and Victoria, as well as CFA volunteers and members of the Victoria State Emergency Service (VICSES).
Mr Schuback's pulse returned, and by the time he was ready to be airlifted to the hospital, he was conscious and breathing.
“Everything was against him except his will to survive,” Mr Hodge said.
“There were a lot of people there by the time we got ROSC (return of spontaneous circulation), so we formed a human chain and got Ralf onto a board and finally out of the truck.
“I’ve been an ACO for about 30 years and have been to a lot of cardiac arrests, but this was the first time I’d been able to deliver a shock with a defibrillator and have a positive outcome.
“This is what you do it all for.
"There were five or six ambulance crews from Victoria and South Australia, a helicopter, firefighters and VICSES volunteers on a farm in the middle of nowhere, all because Ralf was sick.”
Mr Schuback was taken to Bendigo Health by air ambulance, where he spent just two and a half days before being discharged home.
Now, he is back at work after five months of rehabilitation and rest, and a trip to Europe that had been booked before the life-threatening event.
He and his family are incredibly thankful to all of those who saved his life.
“I’ve been spending time reading about causes of heart attacks and cardiac arrest survival rates, and understand how lucky a person I really am,” Mr Schuback said.
“I want to extend a heartfelt thank you to everyone who contributed to save my life under challenging circumstances.”
Every day, around 21 Victorians experience a cardiac arrest, and only one in 10 survives.
Early CPR and defibrillation are critical – for every minute CPR is delayed, survival decreases by 10 per cent.
This Shocktober, AV is calling on all Victorians to learn CPR and know where your nearest publicly accessible AED is, so you can help save a life if someone nearby experiences a cardiac arrest.
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