Family of retired Renfrewshire farmer donate pacemaker to help save dog's life

The family of a retired farmer who died at his home in Renfrewshire have donated his pacemaker to an animal hospital to help give a dog a second chance at life.

Responders from the Scottish Ambulance Service were called to the Renfrewshire home of Jack Smith, who suffered from a cardiac arrest and required urgent medical assistance.

Critical care advanced practitioner Jonathan Gallier and paramedics Kate Austin and Bobby Carrigan attended the scene.

Despite prolonged efforts to revive the 73-year-old, he passed away.

His daughter Rachael praised ambulance medics for their efforts to save him.

She said: “Although the five ambulance service responders couldn’t bring my dad back, they still did a fantastic job at trying and kept going for longer than I expected they would.”

To honour his love of animals, Rachael has decided to donate her dad’s pacemaker to the Small Animal Hospital at the University of Glasgow, which could be used to help a vulnerable dog with a heart condition.

A human pacemaker can be surgically implanted into a dog suffering from conditions such as bradycardia or heart block.

Rachael said: “Dad spent a large part of his life caring for animals. Knowing his pacemaker could help save a dog felt like the most fitting tribute I could give him.

“It doesn’t take away the grief, but it gives us something good to hold onto. Dad would have been proud. It means Dad’s story doesn’t end with loss; it ends with kindness.

“Nearly 300 people turned up to my dad’s funeral and many people shared such lovely stories of his kindness towards them, which felt doing this even more fitting.”