Sheffield Junior Football Club Fulfils Goal To Buy Life Saving Equipment
A former Sheffield footballer who almost died after suffering a cardiac arrest during a game and was revived by the opposition team of medics, is backing a local junior football club's decision to invest in potentially life saving equipment from first aid charity St John Ambulance.
Grassroots club, Aston Swallownest JFC has raised funds to install an Automated External Defibrillator (AED) at its Sheffield grounds - equipment that can shock the heart to restart after a cardiac arrest.
The decision was fuelled by the events of a game in 2013 when winger Ryan Zon (then aged 19) from Aston, collapsed during a game against Sheffield Medics FC. Junior doctors performed CPR on the pitch and worked to revive Ryan for up to 15 minutes until the ambulance arrived.
Hospital tests later revealed Ryan was born with a previously undiagnosed heart condition. The heart attack was caused by one of his arteries growing the wrong way, which stopped the blood circulating. Ryan went on to undergo extensive heart surgery and is still in recovery.
Ryan and his family are calling for all football clubs to have defibrillators on hand at their grounds.
"I owe my life to the trainee doctors and I just happened to be in the right place at the right time when I suffered a cardiac arrest during a match. We are seeing more and more cases, including high profile footballer Fabrice Muamba, so having an AED available could be the difference between life and death" said Ryan Zon.
Aston Swallownest teams from under-8s to under-16s kicked off a fundraising campaign to buy the life saving equipment and thanks to their efforts and enthusiasm achieved their goal.
Chairman of Aston Swallownest JFC, Paul Neville commented:
"We are committed to running a professional club to benefit our players and staff. Part of this drive is our determination to excel in all areas, not just the standard of our football coaching or team performances on the pitch. Our decision to invest in a defibrillator was prompted by our former club secretary's son, Ryan being taken ill. Without this equipment his chances of survival were slim.
"It was a miracle that on the day, the opposition was made up of university medical students who acted promptly to save Ryan's life. We hope lightning will not strike twice, but if we are faced with an incident like this again our club and team managers will be better equipped and trained by St John Ambulance to deal with it."
In the UK, one person suffers a cardiac arrest every two minutes and as many as one in three will die before they reach hospital. But survival rates increase by more than 50 per cent if a defibrillator is used within the first four minutes.
Gill Sharland, Workplace Training Key Account Co-ordinator with St John Ambulance, said:
'Access to an AED can truly be the difference between a life lost and life saved and we applaud how seriously Aston Swallownest JFC is taking first aid.
'Thanks to this investment and our expert training, no players, spectators or people working at these grounds will be helpless in an emergency. Given their success rate in saving lives, we think the use of AEDs should be far more widespread. Hopefully Aston Swallownest will start the ball rolling for other football, sports clubs, businesses and shopping centres in the area to do the same.'
To purchase an AED or book first aid and other safety training courses, call 0844 770 4800 or visit www.sja.org.uk/training
Article first published on the Yorkshire Times - http://www.yorkshiretimes.co.uk/article/Sheffield-Junior-Football-Club-Fulfils-Goal-To-Buy-Life-Saving--Equipment