Man who died on Hume Freeway meets those who brought him back to life

Gundowring farmer Doug Butler has surprised medical professionals by making an almost complete recovery following February's incident which involved a mix of quick thinking, good luck and training.

The 61-year-old was driving on the Bandiana Link, then the Hume Highway at Wodonga, when he suffered a heart attack on the morning of February 28.

His 22-year-old son, Chais, was in the passenger seat and stomped on the brakes and prevented a crash, as truck driver Kevin Williams witnessed their vehicle swerving and almost hitting a guardrail.

Mr Williams parked behind the car and got out to help, and was told by Chais "my dad's dead".

Chais pulled his father into the emergency lane of the freeway as Mr Williams performed CPR.

"Nope, this guy's not dying on my watch," the truck driver said.

Mr Williams performed CPR for about 12 minutes before paramedics arrived as his son begged his father to come back to him.

Nurse Leanne Wegener also happened to be passing by at the time - and coincidentally knew the injured man - and assisted during the incident.

Despite the 61-year-old not breathing for 26 to 27 minutes, and suffering two cardiac arrests, he was revived and taken to Albury hospital.

Ambulance Victoria area manager Matt Chadban said surviving and recovering from such incidents was almost unheard of.

But the injured man was able to hug and thank his saviours on Wednesday after making an almost complete recovery.

He puts his health at 95 per cent and his surgeon said he had no heart or brain damage.

His son also thanked those who had saved him from having to bury his father.

Doug said Mr Williams would be a friend for life following his heroism.

"I'm just in awe of all these people who are here today, and my son," he said.

"Just in awe.

"How come I survived?

"I know why I survived, because of my son, Kevin, Leanne and everyone else who was involved.

"Everything seemed to line up on the day."

His son hadn't had any CPR training since he was in Year 10.

"I just remembered you do it to the beat of the Bee Gees," he said, referencing the song "Staying Alive".

Mr Chadban said the best thing people could do when someone was in cardiac arrest was to help and urged people to learn how to perform CPR.

To read more stories, download The Border Mail news app in the Apple Store or Google Play.

Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can continue to access our trusted content: