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.
