3 June 2026

Words by Sarah Booth, Herald Sun

When he had a sudden cardiac arrest while driving in traffic last July, falling unconscious as oblivious motorists beeped and overtook his stationary car, PJ Elasmar faced near certain death.

But on what by all accounts should have been his last day of life, everything aligned so perfectly that calling his survival a miracle feels like an understatement.

Mr Elasmar, a healthy 22-year-old university student with no apparent heart issues, did not go into cardiac arrest on a high-speed road, or while home alone.

Instead, he collapsed in Heidelberg's Bell St, where nearby Austin Hospital staff get morning coffees. A medical student driving by was first on the scene and an ambulance was not far away.

Mr Elasmar's mother, Silvana, said "an army" emerged for her son, who has now celebrated his 23rd birthday.

"Every single one of them did something that was beyond miracles," she said.

It was just before 8am, during slow peak-hour traffic, meaning Mr Elasmar had been able to quickly and safely put the car into park just before he fell unconscious.

Dr Mudher Alsafi, now a junior doctor at Austin Health, was in his final year of medicine at the time and driving to placement at another hospital.

He said the cars in front of him began to move "very slowly" and honk at a ute that had "just stopped" in the left lane.

"As I went around driving slowly, I just snuck a quick glance at why the car was stopped and I see this relatively young-looking man looking asleep at the wheel," he said.

He stopped his car, ran to Mr Elasmar's ute and opened the door to find an unconscious, pale driver with blue lips and irregular breathing.

"I was instantly very worried," he said.

"I tried to shake him awake, tried to get a response. I called emergency services, but in the back of my mind I already knew this was an emergency.

"I remember the first thing I thought; why would a man so young stop breathing at 7.50am on a Monday?"

Traffic was thankfully moving slowly, allowing Dr Alsafi to undo Mr Elasmar's seatbelt and pull him from the vehicle to begin CPR.

The commotion quickly attracted the attention of others and within a minute doctors, nurses and other Austin Health staff who were driving past or grabbing coffee started to appear.

One woman, a clinical educator who was only there because it was her daughter's birthday and she was running late, threw off her high heels and ran barefoot to help.

Dr Alsafi said, to his relief, it quickly became clear that the new arrivals were healthcare professionals.

"It was very organised very quickly, which made all the difference in saving PJ's life," he said.

"We had multiple people lining up to do compressions. There was an ENT doctor who was handling the airway."

Firefighters quickly arrived with a defibrillator, followed by paramedics and even an intensive care ambulance that happened to be driving past and stopped to help.

After performing CPR for almost 20 minutes and delivering three shocks, they saved Mr Elasmar's life.

He was taken to Austin Health, where he spent several days in intensive care, followed by several weeks on the cardiology ward.

Mrs Elasmar tears up as she recalls the incredible ICU team who stayed by their side throughout those torturous initial days waiting to see if her son would wake up with brain damage.

But when Mr Elasmar finally woke up, after a few minutes he gave his mother and twin brother a thumbs up.

"I thought that's it, he's good," she said.

"It was like a huge hug."

Extensive testing found no underlying cause for Mr Elasmar's cardiac arrest.

Mr Elasmar said it was "an electrical fault by sheer luck" and his doctors had since told him how rare it was to survive an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest.

"Nine times out of ten, it goes the other way, so very lucky," he said.

Mrs Elasmar said she had promised to give back, so she does, volunteering at the hospital every Tuesday and now sharing their family's story for Austin Health's ICU Appeal.

Money raised will help the team deliver life-saving treatments and support advanced monitoring equipment and critical ICU research.

The family has also tracked down the first responders to thank them, including Dr Alsafi, who was identified using Mr Elasmar's dashcam footage.

"He's part of the family," Mrs Elasmar said.

To support the appeal, visit austin.org.au/donate