A footballer was brought back to life after a heart attack by two doctors who were playing.
Dilraj Sagoo had been on the pitch with the two doctors at St Margaret’s Pastures in Abbey Park, Leicester, when he decided to take a break from the seven-a-side game and go for a sit down after feeling a tightness in his chest. He eventually got up to leave but fell straight down again.
Dr Ismail Daya and Dr Nadeem Ackbarally, who are both locum GPs, rushed to him from the pitch.
Nadeem rushed to help Ismail and the pair started chest compressions and shouted for someone to see if there was a defibrillator about.
Luckily there was one at the site but even with it there was still only an outside chance they would be able to bring Dilraj back to life without all the equipment and drugs that would be used in a hospital.
Nadeem, of Oadby, said: “Chest compressions alone very rarely start a heart going again and even if you have a defibrillator you need some electrical activity in the heart for it to work so it’s not guaranteed to bring someone back to life. Luckily Dilraj could be saved because he had a shockable rhythm.”
While Nadeem had done CPR in the past, he had never done it on a friend before.
Dilraj spent three nights at Glenfield Hospital and had a stent – a small tube – inserted in the artery that had caused the heart attack to prevent it happening again.
Three days after his collapse at about 9.30pm on Thursday, September 25, he returned home to his family and is taking a month off his job in IT to recuperate.
