– With AAP.
This post was originally published on January 18 and has been updated.
Original Wiggles member, Greg Page, collapsed and went into cardiac arrest at a bushfire relief concert in Sydney on Friday night.
Page was taken to hospital after falling to the ground as he left the stage, moments before the group were due to sing the final song of the night, ‘Hot Potato’.
Before he was transported to hospital, Page was assisted by off-duty nurse Grace Jones who was attending the over-18 event.
WATCH: The Wiggles perform an adult-only concert. Post continues below.
Jones, a young nurse at Sydney’s Royal North Shore Hospital, was a fan of the Wiggles as a child and approached a security guard to offer her assistance when Page collapsed.
Once backstage, Jones took over from 23-year-old drummer Steve Pace and crew member Kimmy Antonell who were already performing CPR on the singer.
“I just walked in and I was the only one there who had any training besides first aid training so I just started to do what I do at work,” she told reporters yesterday.
After administering CPR herself, Jones used a defibrillator to shock Page three times to get his heart pumping again.
It was a high-pressure situation that she didn’t expect to find herself in when she attended the concert at Castle RSL with her brother.
“I didn’t go to the concert expecting to do that so it all feels a bit surreal. I do stuff like that every day at work that I have never had to do it without equipment,” said Jones.
“I’ve been trained to do that and I kind of flicked a switch. I went in and I just used all the knowledge that helped him, and saved him.”
Jones continued working on Page for 20 minutes before paramedics arrived.
Page, who was the ‘Yellow’ Wiggle before Emma Watkins, has Orthostatic Intolerance, a disorder that that affects blood flow and can lead to fainting if he stands upright for too long.
When Blue Wiggle Anthony Field saw his bandmate collapse on the ground, he told the crowd to leave.
“Guys, I think we’re going to end it there,” original Red Wiggle Murray Cook then informed the crowd.
“Greg’s not feeling real well. I think he’s going to be OK but he’s not feeling real well so I don’t think we can go on with another song.”
Jones is now being hailed a hero by those who witnessed the incident, including Cook.
“We were just totally shocked when it happened,” Cook told The Daily Telegraph. “The nurse was only 23, I’ve got kids that age, she’s really impressive.
“It’s been very difficult for me and for the rest of us going through this, but seeing him today in hospital, he’s in really good spirits and that has made it a lot easier.”
Intensive care paramedic, Brian Parsell also recognised the major role Jones played in saving the singer’s life.
“We found Greg was unconscious at that point but he had cardiac output, his heart was actually beating,” Mr Parsell told News.com.au.
“It’s only through the efforts of the bystanders before we arrived that he’s alive today… It was actually an extraordinary story of survival.”
“It is a reason why he is here today. And that is really, the hero of the story here today is Grace who was brave enough to step forward. We are good paramedics and we do a great job, but it helps when there are people there doing what needs to be done before we arrive.”