Cardiac arrest: 'I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for a defibrillator'
“When I picked up my phone and read that, it was definitely an eerie moment, it sent shivers down my spine.”
On Saturday, former Derry Gaelic footballer Kevin McCloy received a text from one of his old team mates to say that he was thinking about him.
Kevin was unsure what his friend meant until he was told to tune into the Denmark-Finland Euro 2020 match.
He had suffered a cardiac arrest and needed emergency treatment, including CPR and a defibrillator on the field.
The event had particular resonance for Kevin, a former Lavey GAA player, because he also suffered a cardiac arrest during a club game in 2014.
Kevin's club had defibrillators at the ground as a result of a high-profile campaign that followed the death of Tyrone GAA star Cormac McAnallen, who died of a hidden heart condition in 2004.
The portable defibrillator was invented by Northern Ireland-born cardiologist, Professor Frank Pantridge, in 1965.
Kevin says he owes his life to the device.
He said: “It’s a positive thing that there’s more awareness around the importance of defibrillators and I think we should be training people as young as primary school age to use them.
“Without the Cormac McAnallen campaign, the people who gave me CPR, and who knew how to use the device, I wouldn’t be here today.”
Video journalist: Niall McCracken
