Huddersfield Town fans were offered the chance to learn life-saving CPR skills before the game against Birmingham on Wednesday night.
As part of the Restart a Heart campaign Yorkshire Ambulance Service staff had a stall outside the John Smith’s Stadium offering demonstrations and basic training on how to carry out CPR.
In 2012 Bolton Wanderers player Fabrice Muamba collapsed on the pitch and needed CPR and last June Denmark star Christian Eriksen suffered a cardiac arrest on the pitch in the European Championships.
Just last Sunday a Newcastle United fan collapsed in the stands at St James’s Park and the game against Tottenham was stopped for 20 minutes while a local doctor administered CPR.
Less than one in 10 people in the UK survive a cardiac arrest, figures show. A patient’s chances of survival dramatically increase if CPR can begin before the ambulance arrives.
Over the last eight years on Restart a Heart Day, the Yorkshire Ambulance Service has provided free CPR training to more than 151,000 youngsters at 82% of the secondary schools across Yorkshire.
Huddersfield Town fan Sean Doyle, a dad-of-two who suffered a cardiac arrest at Huddersfield Parkrun in Greenhead Park in 2013, owes his life to fast-acting passers-by. Read more on Sean’s story HERE.
Sean suffered a double cardiac arrest and was given just a 6% chance of survival. Dubbed “Miracle Man” he made a full recovery and now campaigns for the NHS and promotes the importance of CPR training.
Sean, who was at the Town game, said: “It was great to see Town using their platform to make thousands of people aware of just how important it is to have these life-saving skills. Giving CPR quickly can be the difference between life and death.”
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Huddersfield Town’s current head of goalkeeping Paul Clements had his own CPR experience when he saved a young boy’s life whilst at Middlesbrough FC in 2009.
He said: “I was coaching a group of 11-year-olds in a school and one of the lads collapsed and stopped breathing. I had to act fast. I told the rest of the kids to go out of the room and told an adult to ring for an ambulance.
“I did mouth-to-mouth and started the compressions. It’s hard to keep it going and I just remember saying: ‘Where is the help, where is it?’ Thankfully the ambulance arrived nine minutes later.”
For more about CPR go to www.bhf.org.uk/how-you-can-help/how-to-save-a-life