- Dr Tom Pritchard and his friend Matthew Anderson, who were both at the game, rushed to help the fan who had suffered a heart attack. At that time, the play was halted by the referee as everyone’s eyes were on the fan.
- The pair of doctors received help from nurse Ruth McDonald who watching the game. She was the one who performed CPR on the fan until the medics arrived. Videos and photos taken by fans showed a defibrillator being carried to the stands.
- After staff from St. John’s Ambulance team reached the stands, the fan was quickly rushed to a hospital. The latest reports say the fan is now stable and responsive.
On October 17, when Newcastle United played Tottenham Hotspurs at St. James’ Park, there was an incident that reminded netizens of the harrowing visuals from Euro 2021, when Danish footballer collapsed in the field after suffering a heart attack.
But during this Premier League game, it was a fan who suffered a cardiac arrest while watching his team play. Fortunately, the sea of fans also had a heroic doctor and nurse who reacted quickly to save his life.
Dr Tom Pritchard and his friend Matthew Anderson, who were both at the game, rushed to help the fan who had suffered a heart attack. At that time, the play was halted by the referee as everyone’s eyes were on the fan.
The pair of doctors received help from nurse Ruth McDonald who watching the game. She was the one who performed CPR on the fan until the medics arrived. Videos and photos taken by fans showed a defibrillator being carried to the stands.
After staff from St. John’s Ambulance team reached the stands, the man was quickly rushed to a hospital. The latest reports say the fan is now stable and responsive.
Videos shared online show fans cheering and clapping for the doctors and the nurses after they saved the fan.
The pair of doctors have now spoken about the incident.
“It’s something you see at work fairly often but I haven’t really seen this outside of a hospital before, there was an elderly gentleman lying on the seats in cardiac arrest. Luckily St John’s were fairly quick, got the pads on quickly, took over CPR,” Dr. Prichard told BBC.
The nurse then administered CPR wrote on Facebook that she and another nurse were watching the game when the incident happened.
“I took over the CPR until 2 young St. John’s ambulance people arrived with a defib. I continued doing the compressions and Tracy cut off the man’s top so we could get the defib pads on and deliver the first shock,” she said.
