Player brought 'back from the dead' at Caernarfon rugby festival

Jun 17 2010 By Alex Hickey

Kevin Phelan

A FIT and healthy businessman collapsed and "died" suddenly at a golden oldies rugby festival but was dramatically brought back to life thanks to the quick thinking actions of on-site medical staff.

Kevin "King" Phelan, 56, was in Caernarfon to take part in last weekend’s European Golden Oldies Rugby Festival, as part of the Ageing Pandas team from Dublin, one of 32 taking part from all over the continent.

The father-of four had just come off the pitch and had gone to grab a towel when he collapsed to the ground.

His team-mates, Steve "Jinx" Hingerty and Paddy Byrne initially thought that their friend was "messing around" and sprayed water on his face to revive him.

When their was no reaction Philippa Holloway from the Anglesey based firm Premier First Aid, who had an ambulance parked pitchside, realised there was something seriously wrong.

Mr Byrne explained: "King is a bit of a joker and we thought he was messing around so I sprayed some water on his face but he didn’t move. The first aid girl realised straight away that there was something wrong and began to resuscitate him and give him CPR (cardio pulmonary resuscitation).

"He collapsed on the side of the pitch right beside the ambulance, if he had been any further away he would not have survived. Apparently he was ‘dead’ for a couple of minutes."

Thankfully the first aiders, with the help of Dr Jones from Caernarfon’s Market Street surgery and a GP from French rugby club Roosevelt, helped bring Mr Phelan back to life.

He was then transferred by ambulance to the intensive care unit at Ysbyty Gwynedd, where he remained for the duration of the festival.

The Herald spoke to a drained but relieved Mr Phelan from his bedside in the Glyder ward, Ysbyty Gwynedd where he is making a steady recovery.

His first words were to pay tribute to first aider Philippa Holloway.

He said: "If it wasn’t for that girl we wouldn’t be having this conversation today. I’m an unlucky and very lucky man.

Mr Phelan believes his sudden collapse came about as a result of a recent business trip to Indonesia.

"I came back from Indonesia last Wednesday and came over here for the rugby on the Thursday but while I was there I caught some kind of bug and had a bad bout of diarrhoea and I think that must have drained me."

The Irish man has no real recollection of his collapse but he stopped breathing for around two minutes. His first memory is waking up to his wife Triona by his bedside almost 24 hours later.

Mr Phelan is hopeful he can be back home in Ireland next week, and although he may need more treatment to assess if there was any damage to his heart, he has escaped with his life, weakened but relatively unscathed.

Ms Holloway from Premier First Aid was grateful for the praise she received from Mr Phelan and his family but, said she was "only doing her job".

"It was very much a team effort, with me and Andy (Blankley her colleague) and Dr Jones from Market Street surgery working together."

One of the festival’s organisers, Emrys Jones also paid tribute to the actions of medical staff and players at the scene.

"I think everyone reacted so well to what was a life threatening incident. The paramedics, first aid teams, some of the medically trained players on the ground at Ysbyty Gwynedd have done a first class job."