Dog credited with saving owner's life during medical crisis
Celebrity doctor Sally Coburn is usually the one doing the treating – but she suddenly became the patient on Sunday morning after collapsing with a lung clot.
It was her little pooch Molly that came to the rescue and saved her life.
The 59-year-old doctor was at home alone when she suddenly felt like she was suffocating.
She collapsed on the lounge room floor and was woken by Molly vigorously licking her face.
“Pets, they know when something is wrong,” Dr Coburn said.
“I really couldn’t tell you where I’d be if she hadn’t done that.”
Breathless but conscious, Dr Coburn managed to call 000.
She has since praised all the medical staff, paramedics and the ESTA operator for their help.
Normally the one dispensing the advice in her role as Dr Feel Good on TV and radio, Dr Coburn spent four nights in Melbourne’s Alfred Hospital.
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“She had what’s called a pulmonary embolism while she was at home, it’s a sudden condition and in her case it was very severe,” Dr Vincent Pellegrino said.
A clot had travelled from one of Sally’s veins and blocked the arteries to the lung. If Molly hadn’t woken her up, it could have been fatal.
“She’s very, very lucky, she could easily have not been able to make that phone call,” Dr Pellegrino said.
But she did thanks to Molly, who waited in the same spot where Dr Coburn had collapsed until her owner returned home from hospital.
“She’s just a star, she’s a princess and I love her dearly,” Dr Coburn said.
