A LAWYER who collapsed after suffering a heart attack while playing hockey has spoken of his relief that the club's first-aiders were able to use a defibrillator to revive him, in the latest case to highlight the importance of the life-saving equipment.
Graham Bryson, 58, a goalkeeper for Clydesdale Hockey Club in the south side of Glasgow, was taking part in the annual New Year's Day hockey match when he collapsed.
At first, teammates and spectators believed the father-of-three, from Bearsden, had simply tripped, but when he failed to move they realised he had suffered a cardiac arrest and called for an ambulance.
An off-duty police officer and nurse who were watching the game rushed onto the pitch and began performing CPR while the defibrillator was fetched from the clubhouse. The machine was used to shock to Mr Bryson's heart before emergency services arrived eight minutes later.
The incident came just ten days after the death of teenage Edinburgh footballer, Jamie Skinner, who collapsed during a match on December 22. It has since emerged that first-aiders at the sports complex in Edinburgh failed to use an available defibrillator.
Mr Bryson, who is recovering at Glasgow's Victoria Infirmary, said the incident came "out of the blue".
He said: "I was fine, there was absolutely nothing wrong with me. I play in goal and I'm a bit overweight and 58 obviously, but I didn't feel ill beforehand.
"For me it's all just a blank. I remember arriving at the club, then the next thing I knew I was waking up in hospital two days later."
It is the first time the defibrillator had been used since it was donated to the club by the British Heart Foundation following the death five years ago of a 40-year-old member of Clydesdale Cricket Club, who collapsed during a match.
The club installed the defibrillator nine months ago and ten members were trained to use it.
Mr Bryson said the swift action of the first-aiders had probably made the difference between him surviving and leaving his wife, Yvonne, alone to bring up the couple's three young children, aged seven, five, and two.
"If there had been nobody else there [when it happened] I don't think I would have survived," said Mr Bryson.
"The action of the first-aiders maximised my chances of surviving.
"I am profoundly grateful that the club was so aware not only to have the equipment but the trained personnel to use it.
"I believe that every sports club should carry out an assessment with a view to obtaining a defibrillator and training the members to use it."
David Mackie, the president of the Clydesdale club, who was also umpiring the New Year's Day match, said: "Be under no illusions, Graham had stopped breathing, he was dead.
"I am very proud of the speedy reaction of the club members.
"That's what kept Graham alive."
High-profile cases such as the death of Motherwell FC captain Phil O'Donnell, who suffered a cardiac arrest and collapsed on the pitch in December 2007, and the near-fatal collapse of Tottenham player Fabrice Muamba in March 2012, have led to calls for defibrillators to be routinely installed in public buildings.
Last week, it emerged that two members of staff at the leisure centre where 13-year-old Tynecastle FC player Jamie Skinner died have been suspended.
It followed criticism that staff at the Saughton Sports Complex failed to use a defibrillator kept on-site for medical emergencies despite being trained to do so.
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