Rufer: ‘I’m

A week after his brush with death, Kiwi soccer legend Wynton Rufer thanks the man who saved his life. By Phillip Rollo.

NEWZealand’s greatest footballer has thanked the man who saved his life, aweek after suffering a heart-attack on a Lime e-scooter and collapsing in a busy Auckland street.

All Whites legend Wynton Ruferwas riding back from watching a Breakers basketball game at Spark Arena with friend Florian Wellmann on Sunday when he suffered the heart attack as he started up Parnell Rise.

Speaking from his bed at Auckland CityHospital yesterday, he said that because he’d been in a coma until Monday and been in ‘‘la-la land’’ until Thursday, he had finally been able to phone the man who’d come to his rescue.

That man – 35-year-old Aucklander NickMoss – had only been in that part of the city because he was looking for a carpark before visiting the ASB Classic tennis.

Rufer is expected to make a full recovery but said he feels ‘‘very lucky to be alive’’.

‘‘He has probably savedmy life. I can’t believe I’ve had a heart attack,’’ Rufer said from his hospital bed yesterday afternoon.

‘‘I’ve obviously just blacked out because I remember going around the corner really slow and Florian is just behind me but then I don’t remember any more after that.

‘‘Nick was bashing away at my chest to keep me alive while the ambulance came and they applied a defibrillator three times. I woke up in ICU on Monday and I was in la-la land until about Thursday. I only really remember Thursday, Friday and today.’’

Moss said yesterday that he hadn’t recognised Rufer right away but had simply gone to help when he’d heard the screams for help from

Wellmann, who’d been with Rufer at the basketball.

He said he’d been confident he could help the 56-year-old because he’d attended a St

John’s first aid course only three months ago.

‘‘As we pulled up, there was a