A Lanarkshire mum has thanked life-saving paramedics after her son suffered a cardiac arrest at the end of an Old Firm match earlier this year.
Young Celtic fan Joseph Higgins went to the fixture with pals and his brother at Hampden on April 17.
But the 26-year-old from Bellshill started to feel unwell as the game ended and fainted at the concourse area of the national stadium.
His panicked group were unable to bring him back round, however, responders from Scottish Ambulance Service were on the scene quickly and administered CPR before rushing Joseph to hospital.
To this day, he says he has no recollection of the dramatic events that unfolded.
Joseph said: “It is only now that I realise just how seriously unwell I was. I have very little memory of what actually happened.”
His mum, Ruth, 55, added: "Initially we were unaware of how serious the situation was, the message I received was he had fainted.
“When at the hospital I don’t think I was able to process the seriousness of the situation. It's only now after he’s home it’s actually sunk in.
"It's not usual to survive a cardiac arrest. However, being in the right place at the right time and beside staff who had the correct training saved his life.”
Joseph was diagnosed with an undiagnosed hereditary heart defect, which was found to be the cause for his sudden collapse, and spent 47 nights in Queen Elizabeth Hospital and Golden Jubilee Hospital.
Despite the ordeal, Hoops-daft Joseph renewed his Celtic season ticket while still receiving treatment in hospital, and says he is not fazed by the thought of returning to the stadium where he fell ill in the near future.
In the meantime, Joseph's family have sent their heartfelt thanks to student paramedic Thomas McCallum and newly qualified paramedic, Courtney Elaine Braceline, of Glasgow East Station who rushed to his aid.
Ruth said: “As a mum, I just have no words that would even come close to expressing my gratitude to the staff who looked after Joseph - they literally saved his life.
"He will very much look forward to being back at Hampden when Celtic are playing there. We are just so thankful that the staff were close at hand and managed to get Joseph stable and to the hospital.
“Hopefully he is well on the way to recovery and as a mum I want to express my thanks to the team for their amazing work."
Thomas added: "I’m glad to hear the patient is recovering well. Surviving an out of hospital cardiac arrest requires a team approach and the patient's good health is a credit to everyone that played a part in his care at the scene.
"CPR makes all the difference and is a simple task anyone can do, I recommend anyone that doesn’t know CPR learns now, you could save a life.”
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