Grangemouth dad brought back to life after cardiac arrest during football friendly

Peter Dunn, 64, was playing in a match for Falkirk FC FFIT (Falkirk Football Fans in Training) against Ness FC at Falkirk Football Club earlier this year when he suddenly collapsed in the 88th minute.

Along with a charge nurse and two police officers, Christopher Adams, a technician of Stornoway Ambulance Station and Martin Macleod, paramedic of Barvas Ambulance Station, who were playing for Ness FC commenced CPR on Peter immediately while an ambulance and Paramedic Response Unit was dispatched.

Peter, a part-time gardener, said: “I would like to thank everyone who helped me, including my partner Karen and my daughter. If it wasn’t for them, I wouldn’t be here today.”

Speaking of the incident, the Falkirk player said he collapsed in the last two minutes of the game and the next thing he remembers is waking up in the hospital.

He said: “I just sort of sat up and came to. I didn’t know what had happened until I started getting messages. The nurse explained that I had a cardiac arrest. I actually felt absolutely great, but I think it was because of the morphine. I still had my football boots on.”

Peter spent the next three weeks in hospital after the incident on August 4, and has since returned home where he continues his recovery after having a triple bypass. He has also returned to work and might return to “walking football” down the track.

He also thanked the hospital’s nurses and doctors for the care he received.

Christopher, an ambulance technician who was playing for the opposition on the day of the incident, said: “Initially thinking he’d stumbled, I realised he had made no effort to stop his fall or in fact get back up. I knelt down and rolled him onto his back and checked his breathing and pulse.

"At that point one of my teammates and a player on the other team, who are both A&E nurses, helped with compressions and mouth to mouth as I removed his shirt. Another player had run to get a defibrillator whilst Martin was on the phone to the ambulance call handler.

"As we prepared to enter the second shock, the Falkirk PRU arrived. It was following that shock we regained an output and Roddy Mackenzie, the A&E nurse from Stornoway, cannulated Peter. The ambulance arrived and the crew took Peter into the back of the ambulance where he was able to give them his personal details and they transported him to a hospital.”