Praise for quick-thinking paramedic footballers

Back in August a squad of over 40s from Ness Football Club headed off for a social weekend to play against their counterparts at Falkirk FC FFIT (Falkirk Football Fans in Training.

Suddenly, in the 88th minute Peter Dunn, 64, of Grangemouth, collapsed.

In the Ness team that day were Christopher Adams, Technician of Stornoway Ambulance Station, and Martin Macleod, Paramedic of Barvas Ambulance Station. Also in the team was A&E nurse Roddy Mackenzie.

They sprang into professional mode and CPR was conducted on the man until the paramedic team arrived and took him to the Forth Valley Hospital and was able to make a full recovery.

Chris and Martin were nominated in last month’s Local Hero Awards, run by the radio station Central FM.

Peter, a part-time gardener, said: “I would like to thank everyone who helped me, including my partner Karen and my daughter. If it wasn’t for them, I wouldn’t be here today. It was great for Chris and Martin to be recognised at the awards.”

Speaking of the incident, the Falkirk FC player said: “It was in the last two minutes of the game and I just collapsed.”

The next thing he remembers is waking up in the hospital, adding: “I just sort of sat up and came to. I didn’t know what had happened until I started getting messages.

“The nurse explained that I had a cardiac arrest. I actually felt absolutely great, but I think it was because of the morphine. I still had my football boots on.”

Peter spent the next three weeks in hospital after the incident on August 4, 2023, and has since returned home where he continues his recovery after having a triple bypass. He has also returned to work and might return to “walking football” down the track.

He also thanked the hospital’s nurses and doctors for the care he received.

Chris said it was a privilege to be nominated for the Central FM Awards, despite not winning.

Of the incident, he said: “Initially thinking he'd stumbled, I realised he had made no effort to stop his fall or in fact get back up. I knelt down and rolled him onto his back and check his breathing and pulse.

"At that point one of my teammates and a player on the other team, who are both A&E nurses, helped with compressions and mouth to mouth as I removed his shirt. Another player had run to get a defibrillator whilst Martin was on the phone to the ambulance call handler.

“As we prepared to enter the second shock, the Falkirk Paramedic Response Unit arrived. It was following that shock we regained an output and Roddy Mackenzie, the A&E nurse from Stornoway, cannulated Peter.

"The ambulance arrived and the crew took Peter into the back of the ambulance where he was able to give them his personal details and they transported him to a hospital.”

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