Family seek ‘guardian angel’ who saved father from stroke in London

A woman whose husband collapsed outside a central London coffee shop after suffering a stroke is now hoping to find the “guardian angel” who saved his life.

Mathew O’Toole, 47, was working in London when he collapsed outside Ole & Steen on Wigmore Street at about 8.30am on 10 June.

His wife, Georgina, 44, tweeted about how a woman had stopped to help, in the hope of tracking her down.

She wrote: “He started vomiting. Many people passed by. Many probably assumed that he was drunk or hungover. One lady stopped.

“She recognised the signs of a stroke, called the paramedics, and directed them to take him straight to University College Hospital emergency stroke unit.

“If she hadn’t done that, we might not have him here today. Or things could have been a lot worse than they are.”

O’Toole has since been discharged from hospital and is back home with his family in Farnham, Surrey, and although he lacks some balance and coordination, he is expected to make a full recovery.

“Due to her actions, I got him home after five days. All he remembers is that he thinks she was a nurse, thinks she was Australian, and thinks she was called Dani,” O’Toole’s wife wrote.

“The road to recovery is long and I know there are going to be ups and downs, but it’s purely because of the help that woman gave me that I am here today,” he told PA.

“It is Father’s Day tomorrow [Sunday], and I could have left two children, aged 16 and 12, and a wife, but as it is I am looking forward to opening some socks.”

He said the woman, who he believes was called Dani or Danielle, was a nurse with blond curly hair, a “kind face”, and was possibly from Australia or New Zealand.

He added: “People do walk past, we don’t always take the time to see what is going on around us, but if that woman hadn’t stopped, I would have been dead. She was just so calming with me all the way through.

“It’s another one of those little acts of heroism, those little acts of kindness, and I just want to thank her for that.”

His wife said the family was also “so grateful” for the treatment he received from the NHS, and wanted to highlight the importance of recognising the symptoms of a stroke.

“I just want to say thank you, from the bottom of my heart, because I’ve still got a husband and my boys have still got a dad.”