Teen recalls moment he nearly died of a cardiac arrest on golf course

A teenager has spoken of the moment he almost died of a cardiac arrest while on a Shrewsbury golf course.

Guy Gowar suffered the abrupt loss of heart function while playing a round of golf at Meole Brace course, on April 5, last year.

The 19-year-old says he would not be here today had it not been for the quick reactions of stranger Aaron Lambley.

The fellow golfer saw what was happening, rushed to Mr Gowar's aid and began administering CPR, which played an important part in saving his life.

Mr Gowar said: "He quickly realise that I'd gone into cardiac arrest and obviously so lucky that he wad there and that someone knew what was going on because no one else really did.

"Without him really being there knowing what to do I probably wouldn't be here today.

"I have been told that it's one in ten out of hospital cardiac arrests, one in 10 survival.

Mr Lambley had gone down for a quick round of golf after work that day - something he doesn't normally do.

The professional sports therapist soon realised what was happening and began administering CPR.

Mr Lambley said: "Your first assumption is someone has either been hit by a golf ball or a club, probably.

"I went through my checks and thankfully quickly realised that he's probably having a cardiac arrest of some description.

"So you go into auto pilot then. and just went through my usual procedures really.

"Thankfully it is the first and only time i've had to do it so far in real life but straight into CPR and made sure that there was a defibrillator on the way and that the emergency services were notified what was going on."

Following the cardiac arrest Guy discovered that he has Long QT syndrome which is a heart rhythm condition that can potentially cause fast, chaotic heartbeats.

The British Heart Foundation is encouraging people to learn and understand the importance of being able to do CPR as they say it could mean the difference between life and death.

June Davidson, BHF senior cardiac nurse, said: "It is absolutely vital. That person has pretty much died when they have a cardiac arrest, so you can do no worse.

"So we'd always encourage people to go in and have a go, learn the skills of CPR it is extremely easy."

Guy has had to give up playing football, but he'll always be grateful that Aaron just happened to fancy a round of golf that day.