Cardiac arrest on the pitch, a man saved by the defibrillator

When the presence of the defibrillator in a sports center saves the life of a person, everybody becomes aware of the importance of rules, of training and of precautionary measures.

In Mezzana of Somma Lombardo on Sunday 8^th of April in the afternoon it came close to tragedy, that was avoided thanks to the presence of the AED device and of the staff who was trained to save lives.

During the match of the championship ISC (Italian Sports Center) of the serie A2 between the Oss Mezzana A and Olimpia Bianco teams, the Egyptian 49 years old player, Tawfik Nasser, who lives in Casorate Sempione, for many years in Italy, a veteran of the provincial pitches, felt unwell after leaving the pitch: he was seated on the bench near a team-mate of his when he collapsed to the floor and started to tremble and to make strange noises. Soon the coach Luca Fedeli and the managers of the organization of Mezzana understood the gravity of the situation and called the 112.

Meanwhile the car rescue put into operation, as provided for the law the defibrillator operator (compulsory on all the pitches since July 2017) was called out and prepared the device.

Fortunately, in the parish recreation center there were a nurse, Rosita Romano, and a person who was trained to use the AED, the person in charge of the recreation center Davide Forte: the player was placed on the ground, they switched on the defibrillator and the first discharged began, reactivating his heart that had stopped. The cardiac massage did the rest, saving the life of a nearly 50 year old with a passion for football, who is a security officer at Malpensa and he is very checked on physical level (few weeks ago he had tests that included stress electrocardiogram).

 

The ambulance came in 15 minutes, the man was taken to the hospital of Legnano where he regained consciousness: he is patient in the ward of coronary intensive care unit, the causes of the cardiac arrest are yet to be verified, they will be make tests during the next days. Next to him there are his wife and the two children, over the support of lots of friends and team-mates who will never forget those moments of fright.

 

Luca Fedeli, coach of the Oss Mezzana A, one of the first to notice the collapse, explained, “In 30 years of football it never happened something like that to me, a really terrible moment. The defibrillator and the cardiac massage saved him. Today we’ve understood the importance of having the AED and of being able to use it. Fortunately, everything went right and the heart of Nasser started to beat again. I want to thank the nurse who was present and firstly the person in charge of the recreation center, but also the rival team who understood the situation and decided with us to stop the match.”

 

“First of all, I want to thank the lots of people who called to know about the conditions of my player. Today we had a terrible time. The difference between life and death is due to a fundamental device, which was very debated by the organizations, but today saved Nasser’s life. The defibrillator is indispensable, together with a due training of the first aid attendants. We must not do the courses condescendingly and most of all it’s necessary to always keep on hand a defibrillator. I owe a special thank-you to Rosita and Davide for the precious aid. To our “Egyptian lion” I wish good luck for a quick recovery,” commented

Gabriele Baldini, chairman of the organization of Mezzano (below on the photograph with the player who felt unwell, Tawfik Nasser).