Christian Eriksen is a lucky man who received textbook treatment on the day that he suffered a cardiac arrest, the chief executive of Irish cardiac and stroke foundation Croi said.
The 29-year-old footballer collapsed during the first half of Denmark’s opening Euro 2020 match against Finland after suffering a cardiac arrest.
He was treated with a defibrillator on the pitch before being transferred to hospital where he was fitted with a heart-starting device.
Eriksen left Inter Milan by mutual consent last year as rules in Italy prevented him from playing with a implantable cardioverter defibrillator device fitted.
He signed a six-month contract with Brentford on Monday and will return to play in the Premier League.
Neil Johnson, the chief executive of Croi, the heart and stroke charity based in the west of Ireland, said Eriksen received fast and effective treatment on the day of his cardiac arrest - and he could go on to live a happy and healthy life as a result of it.
He said: "He's a very lucky man. There are unfortunately many people who experienced what he experienced but were not the recipients of a quick response.
"He is a good example of what can be done. Long may he live and have a healthy and active life.
"It's a textbook example of having a situation where someone has a cardiac arrest, they get the appropriate response and it happens quickly.
"By appropriate response, I mean someone who is able to do CPR. In the case of an arrest, access to a defibrillator as well.
"When someone does arrest, it's a matter of minutes. With each passing minute, there is an incremental decrease in the chance of survival.
"Speed is of the essence. Being able to do CPR is the most important skill. Having access to a defibrillator is the next piece of the sequence.
"After that, rapid access to advanced care. He was very lucky to have all of those things happen."
Mr Johnson also said many football clubs in Ireland took it upon themselves to arrange CPR training and defibrillator use after Eriksen's cardiac arrest on the pitch.
Croi has long called for national sporting organisations to issue policies on CPR training and defibrillator use - as many clubs have to pay for the life-saving equipment through fundraisers on their own initiatives.
Mr Johnson said: "After the high-profile incident , we got a lot of calls from sports clubs wondering how to prepare and what they need to do.
"We have a long way to go to get us to what would be ideal but we've made great progress. Many clubs are buying equipment. Officials in clubs are stepping forward and training.
"We're still missing a standardised approach to this. It's still ad hoc.
"There should be an agreed, standard operating protocol which outlines who is responsible for ensuring defibrillators are available, that they're maintained, that there's access and there are people appropriately trained.
"Something clubs should consider is having club officers and referees trained in CPR.
"It's no extra burden for them to have the training and there is no legal obligation on them to respond if they feel uncomfortable on that moment in time.
"But generally speaking, when you're trained, you're more likely to respond.
"It's all about the number of people in the community that have this easily-learned skill."
Mr Johnson said, however, that many Irish people are still confused about how to treat a cardiac arrest, which is a malfunction of the heart, and a heart attack, which happens when blood flow to the heart is blocked.
He said: "There is still a misunderstanding among a large part of the population between a cardiac arrest and a heart attack.
"It's important that people understand the difference. Heart attacks are typically a result of underlying cardiac or vascular disease whereas an arrest can be the end result of a heart attack or happen of its own accord.
"The reality is that there are many other examples of what happened there (to Eriksen) that happened in other sporting arenas, including in Ireland.
"We've had situations where someone has arrested and someone responds quickly with CPR and someone with access to a defibrillator knows how to use it and that the individual is rushed for advanced care.
"It's not always as positive an outcome as that but it does highlight the importance of the need to have access to a defibrillator and people who know what to do where there are large crowds gathering on a regular basis."
