An Evertonian whose life was saved by friends after he collapsed playing football says his family had “an incredible day” after watching Sunday's win over Nottingham Forest as special guests of Ashley Young.

Nick Thomas, 46, works as a GP but found himself in need of urgent medical attention when he suffered a cardiac arrest while enjoying a weekly kick-about with colleagues in Oxfordshire last August.

The quick-thinking actions of those around him in performing CPR kept Nick alive while a defibrillator was located and emergency services called.

He has since gone on to make a full recovery and is keen to spread the message of how important knowing the basics of CPR - which can be learnt in as little as 15 minutes - can be.

 
Nick's story was told on BBC Breakfast earlier this year and, after hearing about his recovery and the heroic efforts of those who saved him, Everton’s Young invited Nick and his family to watch a game at Goodison Park.

The father-of-three said: "There was a Manchester United fan, who is a firefighter, and a Chelsea fan, who is a police officer. They get training on CPR and recognised straight away that I needed help.

“They worked on me for about 15 minutes and, during that time, they got a defibrillator from the side of the pitch and they shocked me twice and brought me back.

"I can't thank them enough and will forever be in debt to them. It's amazing what they did. I've got so much to be thankful for and it shows the importance of CPR."

Nick, who regularly runs and plays football, says his story shows that CPR can be needed by "anybody, at any time, in any place."

He is also keen to stress the message that having a knowledge of how to perform CPR - and the confidence to jump to action - could save a life.

"It's incredible to think this happened to me because it was completely out of the blue," said Nick, who also appeared in Goodison's Fan Zone ahead of Sunday’s match to share his story and pass on his message to fellow supporters. "I was doing park runs every week, playing football every week, I was quite a fit guy - I have three kids at home who keep me busy - and yet this happened. I was totally shocked and it came with no warning.

"I think the key to all of this is the confidence. If you know what you're doing, even just a little bit, enough to get [CPR] going, to get started, it's nothing to be scared of. Just have a go and that's a massive thing to do, it really is.

"If someone is having a cardiac arrest, it’s too late now so you can do no harm with CPR, just get on with it. That's the message; don’t be afraid of it, people aren’t always confident with it but it’s really easy to do.

“The British Heart Foundation have got an amazing device called the RevivR app so you can become self-taught at CPR. It takes just 15 minutes to teach yourself how to do it, all you need is a pillow and your mobile phone."

As part of their special day at Goodison, Young met Nick, his wife and three young sons before the game and presented them with an Everton home shirt before discussing Nick's lifelong love of the Blues and journey back to health.

"For Ashley to send me the video message in the first place was fantastic and the offer for us to come up and watch a match, especially one as important as this, it’s incredible," added Nick. "We’re all Evertonians so it’s been a brilliant day."

For more details on easy ways to learn CPR, or to access the British Heart Foundation's resources, click here.