A FOOTBALLER whose life was saved by a defibrillator is encouraging more sports and community groups to buy them.

Chris Mullaney was playing soccer with friends at the Marley sports ground in Keighley when he collapsed and his heart stopped.

It was only thanks to the actions of teammates and staff – who used Marley’s defibrillator – that the 52-year-old gas engineer was revived.

Chris, from Cullingworth, made a public appeal this week after reading Haworth Cricket Club had raised cash for a defibrillator for their grounds.

Chris’s own brush with death came on September 22 when he was playing his regular ‘Thursday night football’ with an informal group that has been together for about eight years.

Chris said: “After playing for half an hour, with no warning I collapsed. I didn’t feel pain, just faint, then things went dark.

“The lads, especially Matt Hintze, took control. Because I wasn’t breathing and had no heartbeat he gave CPR on the pitch while the others phoned an ambulance.

“The staff at Marley attached the defib which shocked me and kept me going till the ambulance arrived. I was told I wouldn’t have survived without it, as my heart was affected and CPR wouldn’t have saved me alone.

“I want to raise awareness that defibrillators do save lives. Thanks to a defibrillator I’m still here. I’m so grateful to whoever introduced them at Marley.”

Chris already knew the importance of people learning CPR: eight years ago he used knowledge learned from TV to give CPR to a man who collapsed while walking his dog at the same Marley playing fields.

Chris had no inkling he was going to have a heart attack himself, because he is quite fit from playing soccer twice a week.

He said: “I used to play when I was young, but stopped. Then I took my son to football in Long Lee and one of the lads said ‘why don’t you come down on a Thursday night?’”

Following Chris’s cardiac arrest he was taken first to Airedale Hospital, then to Leeds General Infirmary where he spent two weeks undergoing tests to discover the cause.

Doctors discovered the muscle wall of Chris’s heart had a slight thickening, and suspect it could be a hereditary condition.

Chris now once to encourage local people to raise money for defibrillators for sports clubs, community centres, and in neighbourhoods where they can be accessed by the public.

He added: “Until September I never realised why there are so many around nowadays, but it’s good to know they’re there.”