A Scots father has told how two members of his family saved his life after he collapsed at home, unexpectedly, when he was feeling, “in the best shape of my life”.

Aonghas Morrison, from West Lothian, thought he had food poisoning but his ‘illness’ turned out to be a cardiac arrest.

Just one in 10 people in the UK survive an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest but this figure increases to 7–8% if resuscitation is attempted.

Luckily for the 50-year-old, both his daughter and father-in-law were aware how to perform CPR (cardiopulmonary resuscitation) and he lived to tell the tale.

It comes as new research found only around half of Scots (54 per cent) would be able to perform CPR if a loved one had a sudden cardiac arrest in front of them, despite latest data showing that around 80% of out-of-hospital cardiac arrests happen in the home.

READ MORE: Scotland-wide app aims to alert people who know CPR to cardiac arrests

Mr Morrison told how he had returned home from a volunteer work with the Boys Brigade in Livingston when he felt unwell.

He said: “I’ve always kept myself reasonably fit and healthy and last year I really did think I was in the best shape of my life. 

“I had no concerns about my heart and so what happened really was a bolt out of the blue. I thought I had food poisoning.

“I had a lie down, then felt sick and walked to the bathroom. It was at that point that I collapsed on the floor. I don’t remember anything after that.”

His daughter heard him fall, ran to see what had happened and dialled 999 while his father-in-law started to perform CPR compressions - with her counting the number - until the paramedics arrived to take over.

READ MORE: Male heart deaths at highest number in a decade 

He said: “ It must have been so frightening for them, but they stayed so calm. 

“The ambulance crew worked on me for an hour in the house, administering shocks from a defibrillator.”

He added: “There is absolutely no doubt in my mind, without the immediate care I received from my daughter and her grandad, I would not be here. 

“They were there and knew what to do when I needed them most. Every breath I take, I owe to them.”

Mr Morrison was taken to hospital where he was fitted with three stents. He was later diagnosed with heart failure, which is being treated with medication.

READ MORE: Scots father's life saved after six-minute heart stop on St Andrew's sands

The BHF is calling on the nation to learn lifesaving CPR during February’s Heart Month, with the message that you’re most likely to need these skills to save someone you know.

There are around than 3,1002 out-of-hospital cardiac arrests in Scotland each year. 

A survey carried out for the BHF by YouGov found that a third of people in Scotland (33%) have never learned CPR.
 

Of those, almost half (49%) said it was because they didn’t know where to learn, while more than a quarter (26%) said they didn’t have the confidence to learn.

The charity says it takes just 15 minutes to learn with its digital CPR training tool, RevivR.

David McColgan, Head of BHF Scotland, said: “A cardiac arrest can happen to anyone at any time - it could be your partner, your mum or dad or your child.

"It only takes 15 minutes to learn with RevivR – that’s a coffee break, half time in the football or the time you might spend scrolling through social media.”