Alan reunites with ‘heroic’ life-saver Matt to spread word about CPR training

A Charlton Athletic community coach hailed as ’heroic’ has been reunited with a walking football player whose life he saved earlier this summer.

Matt Philips performed CPR on 78-year-old Alan Ford, from Bexley, when he suffered a heart attack which caused a cardiac arrest during a game at Goals in Eltham, in June.

He went on to use a defibrillator as he waited for paramedics to arrive.

The pair were reunited for the first time to mark Sky Bet and the British Heart Foundation’s Every Minute campaign, which aims to encourage 270,000 people to begin learning CPR this year.

The groundbreaking campaign, from EFL sponsor Sky Bet, in partnership with the BHF, has already recruited over 100,000 to engage with online training tool RevivR since May.

Alan, who was unconscious for 10 minutes, was taken to Kings College Hospital, where he later underwent a quadruple heart bypass and had an implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD) fitted.

On meeting Alan for the first time since the incident, Matt said: “I’m getting a call, Matt, Matt, quickly, quickly. I turn and Alan’s on the floor, you can see from his chest, it looked like he was trying to breathe.

“I knew what was happening. I shouted out to my colleague Jack, Jack, get me the defib, we knew where it was, at the main reception. I’m trained in CPR as part of the job. The other person that was helping me with CPR was Steve Cleak, he was giving breaths whilst I was doing chest compressions.

“While Jack was setting the defib up, we were doing CPR for I would say, maybe five minutes. I didn’t even think about it. It was only after you finish, you stop, you’re processing it. I was just glad he was alive and we could do something for him. I just thought, I’ve got to do it quick because time is not on his side.”

Alan, who is undergoing a cardiac rehab programme before he can return to football, is back enjoying a reasonably active lifestyle.

He said: “I just don’t know how I could thank Matt enough from my heart and from my wife Sue. We love him so much. I think it’s very, very important for people to know how to do CPR because you never know when something’s going to happen.

“To have that defibrillator there, someone trained on it, it’s so important and it’s a must really for all these sports places, workplaces, parks, wherever, to have these.”

Dr Charmaine Griffiths, chief executive at the BHF, said: “The swift actions of Matt and his colleagues were nothing short of heroic and it’s thanks to their efforts that Alan is here today.”

Sky Bet’s Every Minute Matters campaign is fronted by former Charlton defender Tom Lockyer, who suffered a cardiac arrest in a Premier League game playing for Luton Town in December 2022.

To learn CPR in just 15 minutes, visit bhf.org.uk/revivr

Pictured top: Matt Philips (left) with Alan Ford (Picture: Charlton Community Trust)