On 29 August last year my life was to take a dramatic twist. I got up and went to work as normal feeling perfectly well. At 1105 that morning I collapsed and had the first of 5 cardiac arrests. I had seen, on television, Fabrice Muamba, the Bolton Wanderers footballer, collapse during the match at Tottenham earlier that year. Like everyone else I was amazed at how he was rescucitated and how he subsequently recovered. Little did I know that a few months later I would also suffer a sudden cardiac arrest.

Some of you will know that in my fifties I had taken up running and became fit enough to complete 13 regular marathons in 7 years culminating in me running my first ultra marathon, 100 kilometres London to Brighton Challenge in May of last year. I had never felt fitter in my life and was due to run another marathon in my son, Roberts, adopted home city of Regina in Canada in September 2012.

The events of 29 August changed all of that. I have many people to thank for surviving that day. Steve Haycroft and Harriet Spittles administered CPR and revived me when my heart had stopped for some 4 minutes following the first cardiac arrest. I was fortunate to be working with Northamptonshire Police Service on that particular day and that Steve and Harriet were close at hand.

Unfortunately because my condition, Ventricular Arrhythmia is an intermittent condition I was discharged that afternoon from the local hospital in Northampton and suffered a second arrest shortly after arriving home. My wife Claire, also a trained first aider, revived me on this occasion and again I had an ambulance ride this time to my local hospital, the John Radcliffe in Oxford. Again I recovered quickly and when no symptoms were apparent at A&E I was discharged for a second time.

My next arrest was at 0300 the following morning in my sleep. Again Claire revived me initially and this time the paramedics got there in time to witness what was happening. One of them, Sandra, administered the defibrillator and recorded the episode. This time there would be a cardiologist waiting to see me at the JR Hospital. So I would also like to say a big thanks to Sandra. I was admitted to intensive care and had 2 further cardiac arrests there.

The positive aspect of this was that my condition had now been clearly identified. I spent 3 weeks in the Oxford Heart Centre and I have many people to thank for the care they gave to me. Dr David Sharman, Dr Tim Betts and Dr Ranjepan were all instrumental in my care. So too were many of the nurses, catering and cleaning staff, who were so supportive especially in my emotionally low moments.

I had a device called an ICD fitted which does 2 things. A pacemaker regulates my heart beat and makes it less likely that my heart will go into an unhelpful pattern and an internal defribillator, which will shock me should it do so again. So far I have not needed the second part!

Doctor Sharman told me that once an ICD had been fitted there was a good chance that I could get back to running and take part in half marathons safely. That seemed a distant prospect to me from where I was last September.

I got the go ahead to start gentle running again last December and I have been building myself up ever so gently since then. I would also like to thank the specialist ICD nurse, Elaine Watson, for the support she has provided to me as an outpatient.  I promised Dr Sharman that if I did make the kind of recovery he said was possible I would run next years Oxford Half Marathon and attempt to raise some funds for the Oxford Heart Centre.

I am now looking forward to the run in October. I have run further in the past but this seems like a decent challenge given my new circumstances.

This has been my story of how the Oxford Heart Centre helped me but in my time in there I saw just how important it was in helping so many people and in some cases, giving us a second chance at life itself. Thanks for reading my story and for anything you can donate.

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