Heroic Charlton community coach has emotional reunion with five-a-side player after saving his life during cardiac arrest – as Tom Lockyer backs campaign for people to learn CPR

A Charlton Athletic community coach has been reunited with a walking footballer whose life he saved in June after learning CPR.

Matt Phillips performed CPR on Alan Ford, 78, when he suffered a heart attack causing cardiac arrest during a match in south-east London. He then used a defibrillator while they waited for paramedics.

The pair were reunited to mark Sky Bet and the British Heart Foundation’s Every Minute Matters campaign, which hopes to encourage 270,000 people to learn CPR this year to help save more lives like Alan’s.

Luton defender Tom Lockyer, who suffered a cardiac arrest mid-match in December 2023, has thrown his support behind the campaign, which has recruited more than 100,000 people to take part in the BHF’s RevivR online training tool since May.

Meeting Alan for the first time since the incident, ‘heroic’ coach Phillips said: ‘I’m getting a call, Matt, Matt, quick, quick. I turn around and Alan is on the floor, you can see it in his chest, it looked like he was trying to breathe.

Luton star Tom Lockyer, who suffered a cardiac arrest mid-match in December 2023, has thrown his support behind the campaign to get more people learning CPR.

‘I knew what happened. I shouted to my colleague Jack, Jack, give me the defib, we knew where it was, at the main reception. I am trained in CPR as part of the job. The other person who helped me with CPR was Steve Cleak, he gave rescue breaths while I did chest compressions.

“While Jack was setting up the defib, we spent about five minutes doing CPR. I didn’t even think about it. Only after you’re done do you stop and process it.

‘I was just happy that he was alive and that we could do something for him. I just thought, I have to do it quickly because time is not on his side. I just had to do it. That was the main thing in my mind.”

Alan, who was unconscious for ten minutes, was taken to Kings College Hospital in south London, where he later underwent a quadruple heart bypass and was fitted with an implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD).

An ICD is a small device that is surgically implanted into the body to help detect and treat dangerous heart rhythms that can cause cardiac arrest.

He has returned to a fairly active lifestyle, but is undergoing a cardiac rehabilitation program before he can return to football.

He said: “I just don’t know how to thank Matt enough from my heart and from my wife Sue. We love him so much. I think it’s very important that people know how to perform CPR because you never know when something is going to happen.

‘It has to be done. If you’re afraid you’ll hurt them, remember you’re helping save them. Also to have that defibrillator there, someone trained on it, it’s so important and it’s actually a must for all these sports places, workplaces, parks, wherever, to have this.

Sky Bet and the British Heart Foundation are urging more people to undergo CPR to help save more lives like Alan’s

“You never know what’s going to happen, like what happened to me.”

Dr. Charmaine Griffiths, Chief Executive of the British Heart Foundation (BHF), said: “The quick actions of Matt and his teammates were nothing short of heroic and it is thanks to their efforts that Alan is here today.

‘If someone suffers a cardiac arrest outside the hospital, every minute matters and both resuscitation and defibrillation can make the difference between life and death. However, we know that so many people still haven’t learned CPR or lack the confidence to use a defibrillator.

‘Learning CPR is easy to do via the BHF’s free online RevivR tool. In just 15 minutes, using a cell phone and a pillow, you can learn the skills to save a life, giving someone the best chance of survival in the event of cardiac arrest.”

More than 30,000 cardiac arrests occur in hospitals in Britain every year – at least five every 90 minutes. Every minute that passes without CPR reduces the chance of survival by as much as 10 percent. Fewer than one in ten people survive, often because those around them do not have the skills or confidence to perform CPR.

An incredible £639,000 has been raised to date, including £380,000 from the Sky Bet Play-Offs in May, and £259,000 since August thanks to Sky Bet’s pledges to donate £10,000 for every EFL stoppage time goal, and £1000 for every goal scored over the World Heart Day weekend.

The British Heart Foundation will use the money raised from the campaign to date to continue to fund community resuscitation activities and train more people in life-saving CPR and defibrillation skills. This includes funding for at least 80 additional community defibrillators across the UK.

To learn CPR in just 15 minutes, Visit this link.