'I don't need a medal': 'Modest hero' postie remembers the day he saved a pensioner's life

Dan had just started his shift at the Stourbridge Royal Mail Collection Office on November 23 last year when he directed the Taylors towards the main entrance for the office, after Darryl, 78, had said he was there to pick up a parcel.

It was minutes later that he rushed into action to call 999 for an ambulance after Anne rushed in and said her husband had fallen, hit his head and wasn't breathing, then began to administer CPR.

The father-of-two said he could also remember when what he had done finally sank in.

He said: "The memories are still there and I'm still aware of what happened on that day and how it affected Darryl, from when his wife came in screaming that he'd fallen over to giving the CPR to the paramedics, air ambulance and police that turned up, then going back to my working day.

"It probably hit me later in the day, around about 6pm, as I'd tried to keep busy until then, but then it really hit me and affected me mentally for weeks, just about what had actually happened and just hoping that Darryl was going to pull through and that he was going to be okay."

For Dan, there was also a waiting period, not knowing if Darryl had survived or had died, but he said he found out through Twitter from Darryl's daughter Lynn that he was okay and then started to get messages of thanks.

He said: "It obviously went quiet for a few days afterwards, but then Lynn put something on Twitter and I started to get messages from people asking me if I realised what I'd done and from Darryl and the family thanking me.

"His son-in-law Simon then contacted me through Facebook and kept in touch and let me know how he was getting on and how he was doing and I've been able to develop a friendship with the family."

The friendship that developed between Dan and the family is one which could have come from a tragedy, and Dan said he, Darryl and Anne would try not to focus on what happened when they met up, although Darryl had developed a gallows humour about it.

"Darryl and I still get het up about what happened, as does Anne as she was witness to it all, so we try and talk about other things, although I'll always want to ask about his health and how he's getting on.

"When we first met up, it was pretty much the conversation we had, but Darryl likes to talk about other things and the last time we spoke, he said his friends were asking him what it was like to be dead, with him saying that he can't remember.

"He said it was helping him to get through it and, obviously, see the seriousness of the situation, but try to see it in a jokey way as well."

Dan said that within Royal Mail, he had had a lot of support and advice from managers, including having time away, and had been congratulated for his moment of heroism, including being featured on a new video around CPR and First Aid training.

He said he was still getting used to being called a hero, saying it was a bit hard to take in what he had done, especially with Darryl and his family calling him a hero.

He spoke about administering CPR to Darryl, speaking of how he had used training he had previously learnt as a footballer 18 years earlier and how it was hard work to keep going for 15 minutes, but the adrenaline helped him.

He said: "I spoke to the operator on the 999 call and they told me where to put my hands, how much pressure to put on his chest to do it right, to stop doing mouth-to-mouth and do two compressions a second.

"It was a lot of hard work, but when you've got his wife next to him saying 'I love you Darryl, don't do this, don't die', it gives you the adrenaline to keep going.

"My whole intention around this was to do what I can to give him the best opportunity to live until the professionals arrived."

Dan's actions have seen him nominated for awards with the British Heart Foundation and West Midlands Ambulance Service, as well as being put forward as the face of the new video campaign by Royal Mail and British Heart Foundation.

In the Royal Mail video, Darryl and Anne Taylor said Dan should be given a medal, although Dan said that the fact that Darryl was alive was 'like a medal' to him.

He said: "I'm still thinking about it and I'm so proud of myself for how I reacted to what happened and I don't need a medal for that.

"Darryl is alive and he spent his first Christmas with his great-granddaughter and he's got another birthday, which is a milestone, and these are things that he wouldn't have done if it was a different situation.

"Those things alone are enough of a medal for me, as is the friendship I have with him."

The events of November 23 2022 still weigh on Dan, but, ever-modest, he said that it was something that anyone in the same situation would do.

He said: "It's a great story and the fact is it wouldn't have just been me as any member of staff here would have reacted in exactly the same humane way as you wouldn't just stand there and watch him die, you'd do whatever it took to give him the best chance of survival.

"I've been described as a modest hero and I think people would laugh at that as I wasn't modest when I used to play football - I had a bit of arrogance with it and a few other things, but when it comes to someone else's life, you can only be modest.

"It's his life and his health and that isn't something to brag about and is just something I am very proud about, as he has come through it and lived."