Evening Telegraph (First Edition)
Footballer Steven ‘died three times’ on pitch
A DUNDEE amateur footballer has told how he “died three times” after going into cardiac arrest during a match.
Monifieth Athletic’s Steven Smith, 30, collapsed on the pitch while his team played Park Tool Athletic at Monymusk Park on March 2.
The former Royal Marine has no memory of the incident but says he suddenly fell to the ground in front of his shocked team-mates – plus his nine-year-old son William, who was watching the game from the sidelines.
He told the Evening Telegraph: “Initially it was thought I was having a fit but Dr Alan Brennan, physiotherapist Alex Ramsay and respiratory researcher Steve
McSwiggan, who were on the other team, realised pretty quickly what was happening.
“My breathing made them realise I had gone into cardiac arrest and they immediately began CPR.”
Steven, from Broughty Ferry, says they carried out CPR for 15 minutes before someone arrived with a defibrillator, which was used to get his heart pumping again. However, he went back into cardiac arrest twice more and was shocked another two times. On the third occasion, the paramedics arrived and began working on Steven. He was then taken to hospital in an ambulance.
He said: “I effectively died three times on the pitch. One of the worst things for me about it
all is that William was watching. Everyone was really great and tried to shield from him what was going on, but he’s not stupid and he could see what was happening.”
Steven was taken to Ninewells Hospital where William was able to visit him that same night.
He added: “I ripped off the wires and had a joke with him to show him I was OK and going to get better.
“I think he’s fine though – he went off and played for his own football team the next day.”
While he is eternally grateful to the three men who kept him alive until the ambulance arrived, Steven says his brush with death has changed his life.
The Tayside Contracts worker has since been fitted with an implantable cardioverterdefibrillator (ICD).
The device can detect a lifethreatening rapid heartbeat and send an electrical shock to the heart to get it back into a normal rhythm.
However, it means he is temporarily unable to drive.
He said: “I have lost my HGV licence which is going to have an effect on my future plans.
“I have lost my car driving licence temporarily but this has been a huge setback for me and I’m just trying to juggle everything.
“I learned later that the same thing possibly happened to my dad, who died very suddenly in his car two years ago.”
Monifieth Athletic have since been donated a defibrillator by Unite the Union and some of his team-mates have gone on a CPR course with Dundee First Aid Training Ltd.