A young Celtic fan who suffered a cardiac arrest while at an Old Firm game was 'in the right place at the right time' after hero paramedics saved his life.
Joseph Higgins, 26, travelled on a supporters' bus from his hometown of Bellshill, North Lanarkshire to Hampden Park with his friends and brother to watch the match, which took place on Sunday, April 17. But as the 90 minute whistle blew, Joseph started to feel unwell.
He headed to the concourse area of the stadium but fainted shortly after - with panic growing among his group when he could not be brought back round.
Responders from Scottish Ambulance Service, who were on scene quickly, administered CPR and Joseph was rushed 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 is 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.
Incredibly, 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 added: “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 said: "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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