When Ben 'Banjo' Field got out of bed one October morning for a workout on his cross trainer, little did he know of the life-changing event that would follow just moments later. On his way to the garden shed where the equipment was kept, he collapsed on the grass and suffered a devastating cardiac arrest.
He was subsequently told that he was clinically 'dead' for 13 minutes as his ex-girlfriend's brother carried out CPR on him in a desperate attempt to save his life. "If I'd closed the door of the shed and had my cardiac arrest in there, I probably wouldn't be here today," said Ben, 39, recalling the distressing events of October 17, 2011.
After being taken by ambulance to the University Hospital of Wales (UHW) in Cardiff, Ben spent the next week in a coma as medics tried to stabilise his condition. It was discovered that he had experienced sudden adult death syndrome, known as SADS for short, when the heart suddenly stops pumping blood around the body for no apparent reason.
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Ben, at the age of just 28, was fitted with an implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD) which will shock his heart back into action should the same thing happen again. "I think my brain has pretty much blocked out a lot of what happened. I was in hospital for two months and every day seemed to blur into one. It was a very unsettling and unnerving situation to be in," he added.
Despite making a very good recovery and being discharged from hospital, Ben suffered mentally from the ordeal and was later diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). "Sometimes when I'm lying in bed my brain will tell me that if I go to sleep now I won't wake up again," he admitted.
"It's horrendous because I can't sleep and that extends into tiredness and irritability throughout the day. My thoughts often drift and lead me to think about what would have happened if I hadn't been found. You'd think I'd be over the moon to have survived but there's still that feeling in the back of your mind that something will happen again."
For many months after the incident, Ben admitted he struggled to go out in big crowds or play any kind of contact sport in case someone bumped into his chest and damaged his ICD. But a decade on he has learnt to live with the device, which he has affectionately named 'Dave the Defib', and is back playing football again as a marauding left back. "Now I will dive around like an idiot on the football pitch. It has taken time but I'm now far more comfortable with it," added Ben, who is originally from Devon.
During his two-month stint in UHW, friends and family clubbed together to get Ben an iPad which helped to rekindle his passion for DJing. His Beach Bar Beats mixes have gained in excess of 65,000 views on YouTube to date, and he has gone on to showcase his talents at some of Cardiff's most popular nightclubs including Kuku, Vanilla Rooms, and Pryzm.
A career highlight for Ben was DJing at Uefa's Champions League Final after-party in 2017. He currently has a residency at one of the Welsh capital's newest and trendiest hot spots, The Corporation Yard.
"I think the power of music helped me through the tough times," added Ben, who is often mistaken for chart-topping dance music star David Guetta.
At the very start of lockdown, when clubbing was brought to an abrupt halt, Ben decided to create The Discography Lessons – a series of online guest mixes which also aim to promote positive mental health and wellbeing.
The project has been supported by house DJs from all over the world including famous names Lenny Fontana, Ladies From Mars, Michael Gray, and Doctor Feelgood. This month Ben, along with fellow Welsh DJ and producer Honey B McKenna, decided to turn The Discography Lessons into a record label with 10% of the annual profits going towards a mental health charity of the public's choosing.
"Throughout Covid and lockdown, producers had a lot more time on their hands and created so much great content. It's only now that people are really able to appreciate it [in bars and clubs]," he added. "I'm not expecting to set the world alight [with the fundraising] but, like the famous supermarket says: every little helps. We can probably do some good for some of the smaller charities."
During lockdown Ben turned his hand to producing his own funky, disco and soulful house music and has had one track signed to world-renowned disco label Midnight Riot and three signed to German record label Groovy Firehorse 66.
The first track on The Discography Lessons label is Ben's very own uplifting hit Vibes All Night. It will be followed by releases from emerging UK artists such as C. Da Afro, J.B. Boogie, Marshall (UK), Martina Budde, Pookie Knights, and Brrak.
