Frome man urges men to check their health after cardiac arrest

A Frome man is urging others, particularly men, to regularly check their health after suffering a cardiac arrest while playing football.

Kevin Ross wants people to be aware of ‘hidden health problems’ after he had a cardiac arrest 18 months ago due to high cholesterol and a chronic blockage.

The incident happened while Kevin was playing football with Comeback United, a team for men aged over 55, at Frome Leisure Centre.

Kevin praised the defibrillator at the leisure centre and those around him for saving his life after he was clinically dead for four minutes.

He said, “I had high cholesterol and a chronic blockage. I’d been told I had high cholesterol, but I hadn’t been told it was dangerously high. I am really fit; it was a really unexpected, hidden health problem and I was extremely lucky. Only one in 10 people who have what happened to me survive. That is all because of the proximity of the defibrillator and the people around me. I’m leading my life unchanged really because I am now on medication. My fitness meant I didn’t have any obvious repercussions to my health going forward. The message is really to get checked out as much as possible.”

Kevin described how he collapsed after scoring a goal. “I went down and my friends thought I was doing some weird celebration. Then someone realised I wasn’t breathing. My friend George shouted for the defibrillator and someone ran to get it. Two people who were watching – a qualified nurse and the football coach for the next session – came to help. The coach did the resuscitation while the nurse applied the defibrillator.”

He was revived and taken to the Royal United Hospital in an ambulance. Kevin said he has ‘no recollection’ of the incident. “I remember fleetingly in the ambulance and then fleetingly in the hospital when I recovered. For those around you, it’s much more marked. They have to come to terms with it and find ways to recover in time.”

Last July, Kevin, who has a wife and two daughters, held a ‘Staying Alive Party’ where guests came as how they would like to be ‘reborn.’ He said, “I was Clint Eastwood, the anonymous angel figure from the spaghetti westerns minus gun. My wife has been key in getting me through it all. The first few months were a life reset – a chance to do something new and different with my life. In the end, I went back to the things I did previously, as it was all choice. I learned it was ok to say no to things. The love of family and friends is to be enjoyed to the full in every moment.”