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Fortunately, two off-duty nurses were watching the game and gave him valuable resuscitation (CPR) until the First Responders arrived with a defibrillator, a portable piece of life saving equipment that delivers an electric shock through the chest wall to help restore the heart’s normal rhythm.

Rob Farnfield the Survivor

He was then taken by air ambulance to the University Hospital Coventry.

Rob, who was unconscious throughout most of the ordeal, was told he was resuscitated seven times.

He said: “There were about ten minutes to go in the game when I collapsed on the pitch. There was no warning or any pain. It was as if someone had just turned the power off.”

He added: “I felt fine beforehand. I’m reasonably fit, don’t have blood pressure or the things you would associate with a heart problems

After having a stent fitted, Rob spent five days in hospital recovering before taking on cardiac rehabilitation at the Whitworth Centre in Darley Dale.

He now takes part in gym sessions especially for heart patients, at Arc Leisure Matlock and within less than a year has gone from being able to walk just a few feet to walking from Matlock to Derby.

Rob has not refereed at Matlock Rugby Club since his heart attack but has been to the club base, at Cromford Meadows, many times since and the charity has paid for a defibrillator for the club house.

Ex-chairman of Longstone GAA, Hugh Rodgers, who was at the match on Sunday, said he saw Mr Tumelty suddenly collapse while running.

“The game was coming very close to the end and as he was running he fell flat on his face.

“I thought he had tripped but it became clear he was in grave danger. It became quickly apparent it was serious,” he said.

“It took a few minutes for it to transfer through that it wasn’t a broken ankle, and therefore it (the match) would be cancelled.”

The 46-year-old from Ballykinler was treated on the pitch by medical staff at around 9pm. It is the second time in two weeks that the device has been used pitch-side in Northern Ireland.

As recently as last month a defibrillator was used on Chris McNeill (17), after he collapsed while playing in a Milk Cup match in Portstewart on July 25.

On Sunday medics from both teams as well as three doctors watching the game came to the referee’s assistance when he collapsed during the last few minutes of injury time. One Burren team member who works as a dentist placed Mr Tumelty in the recovery position before the defibrillator was used to revive him.

He was rushed to nearby Daisy Hill Hospital before being transferred to Craigavon Area hospital yesterday afternoon where he is now in a stable condition.

Mr Rodgers said he didn’t believe Mr Tumelty suffered from a serious health problem and added that referees at senior level would have a high degree of fitness.

He collapsed during the first quarter of the game at Price Reserve in Werribee South. Children were ushered from the field.

His son was playing for Werribee Districts’ under-9s, in the Western Region Football League and his wife and daughter on the sidelines.

Natalie Kelly said CFA career firefighter Paul Turner and former North Melbourne and Footscray footballer Keenan Reynolds rushed to her husband’s side.

“I’ve spoken to Mr Turner and Keenan’s wife to thank them and tell them how grateful we are,” Ms Kelly said.

Ambulance Victoria intensive care paramedic Mark Maclean said the men did “a great job performing CPR, enabling paramedics to prepare to shock the man’s heart using a defibrillator”.

A critically ill Mr Kelly was taken to hospital, where he remained yesterday in a stable condition.

Mr Turner said saving him was a “team effort”.

He had just left the ground – his son played in an earlier game – when a parent called him back.

“I got there within minutes and Keenan, who had a son playing in that game, was with the fellow, who wasn’t breathing, and we started CPR,” Mr Turner said.

Mr Kelly should be discharged from hospital this week.

His family has thanked footy dads CFA career firefighter Paul Turner and former North Melbourne and Footscray footballer Keenan Reynolds for helping save his life.

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“Well, first, I was a very lucky man to have those volunteers to come out of the stands who were trained,” said referee Craig Evans.

Evans said he remembers the heart attack coming on quickly while he was officiating a game at Raymond High School.

“I made a violation call, and the ball was put back into play, and we’re going back up court, and after I came over midcourt, everybody started getting very blurry, and that’s the last I remember,” he said.

When he collapsed during the fourth quarter of the junior varsity girls basketball game, two nurses and an EMT who were in the crowd, along with a sports trainer, went to his aid.

Doctors said those four were critical to helping save Evans’ life. They started CPR and used an automated external defibrillator that the school had on hand. Paramedics then took it from there.

“They gave him medicines that patients don’t always get,” said Dennis Mechem of Exeter Hospital. “They gave him heparin, which stops clotting of his blocked artery and did it immediately in the back of the ambulance, 20 minutes before he got to the hospital.”

Seventy-two minutes after Evans was in an ambulance, doctors had reopened his blocked artery.

“Just the outpouring of support, the best wishes that I have and the feeling that there’s so many wonderful people who are giving and caring for others has just been tremendous for me,” he said.

A father of two, Evans gets emotional thinking of his rescuers, including one he has been able to thank over the phone.

“I don’t know if I have a friend for life, but I have a hero, one of my heroes,” he said.

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Referee Dan Sudbeck was part of a three-man crew working Thursday’s O’Gorman-Yankton basketball game. He retreated to the coach’s lounge at halftime and sat down in this chair. But soon, his fellow refs noticed Sudbeck was slumping to the floor. Trainer Rochelle Lauret came in from the other room with the school’s defibrillator.

“I had the shirt cut straight up and had the AED on him immediately,” Lauret said. “And then, the machine just takes care of everything after that. It assesses whether there’s a shockable heart rhythm, so it just took care of it and told me what to do basically.”

“We stood back and pushed the button, and all it took was one shot,” said Lauret, in her 12th year as O’Gorman’s athletic trainer. “We continued to do compressions, but you could tell he was breathing on his own after that. When the EMTs got there, he was already answering questions about his medical history.”

“Our referees’ room is five feet from the defibrilator in our training room, so the logistics were fine, but just having them in the building, I can see now that can save lives,” O’Gorman athletic director Steve Kueter said.

Kueter says Lauret’s been a trainer for the Knights for more than a decade. And her quick thinking made the best out of a very bad situation.

“I usually have it on the bench with me at the game and it’s underneath my chair,” Lauret said. “But that night, I had not taken it out there with me for some reason. And so, I just grabbed it, I was probably 15 feet away from him with my AED.”

O’Gorman has three defibrillators on campus, provided by local health partners. While Lauret’s been trained with them, Thursday night was the first time she had had ever used one in an emergency.

“The further away from it I get, the more freaked out I get,” Lauret said. “But I also told my family I want to carry it with me everywhere I go. I just feel like I have to have it with me now because I’m like, you never know.”

The scene on Thursday night not only reminded people of the importance of a defibrillator, but of life in general.

“It makes you rethink a lot of things,” Kueter said. “And the idea of providing the equipment and providing the training has always been there, but now it’s just become much more of a priority in our minds from last night how good that is.”

The Sudbeck family released a statement Friday afternoon thanking everyone for their prayers and concerns. Dan underwent bypass surgery and is currently resting.

“I sat down, maybe a minute or two and it felt like I was going to faint,” Sudbeck said.

In fact he remembers everything up until that point, up until his heart just stopped.

He had no chest pain, no shortness of breath. The next thing he remembers is commotion in the coach’s lounge and people asking if he knew where he was.

“I said ‘yea I’m at OG, the score is 29-28.’ And then one of them said, ‘do you remember getting shocked?’ And I said, ‘shocked? No I don’t remember getting shocked!’” Sudbeck said.

“I couldn’t have been in a better situation. I mean I’ve got two qualified trainers that are there, we’ve got a defibrillator right there. I’m two miles from the Heart Hospital. I mean the stars were aligned perfectly that night,” Sudbeck said.

“I think without that AED, I probably would not be here,” Sudbeck said.

Coincidentally, working with the Avera Heart Hospital and Sioux Falls Fire Rescue, Sudbeck’s wife Pat had been instrumental in getting AEDs placed in schools, churches and businesses and teaching people how to use them.

“I always knew my training would impact somebody I knew or somebody I loved. But I never dreamt in a hundred years that would be my own husband,” Pat said.

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“We teach them CPR, we teach them how to use the AED, we teach them basic life support,” said Jennifer Morrow, Co-Director of the LHS Medical Careers Academy.

Morrow was there the night Kenny Henry suffered from a heart attack and cardiac arrest while officiating a game. She says she couldn’t be more proud of the high school girls who put their skills and training into action.

“It was very scary but we were going to do everything we could to help him to make sure he would survive,” said Kelci Lions, one of the student trainers.

Lions, along with Kennen Granger, Natalie White and Claire Black immediately followed their emergency action plan by calling an ambulance, blocking off and clearing the scene and getting the Automatic External Defibrillator, or AED.

“It’s analyzing it and telling you if the heart rate is good or not, and whether or not that person needs to be shocked. And if it does then everybody stands back and it shocks the person and it revives them,” explained Lions.

Henry’s heart had to be shocked twice to revive him. He was then rushed to the hospital where he underwent emergency surgery. It was the girls’ teamwork that got him to the hospital in time.

“They knew exactly what to do, they got it all done I didn’t even have to tell them a thing, they just jumped into action,” said LHS Certified Trainer Aimee Gros.

And their quick thinking is the reason Henry is alive today.

“It puts things in perspective. We don’t just give people water, bad things can happen and we have to be there,” said student Claire Black.

To the five, and then six, prepared first responders at the game, it was readily apparent that he was having a heart attack.

By the book, early CPR was performed, the AED was administered once and then twice and then advanced life support followed.

Henry’s life was saved.

Before going through quintuple bypass surgery later Thursday night, local assignment secretary Greg Gautreaux said “25 or so” colleagues were at the hospital wishing him well.

“He’s an excellent umpire,” Gautreaux said. “In fact, he had already gotten an assignment to work a state championship game.”

Henry won’t be able to make that call to the Superdome in December after spending Friday recovering in intensive care. But thanks to the heroes surrounding him on the field, he’ll know who’s playing in the game he would have called.

Those who responded included Roy Payne, Dr. Jeff Mire, Troy Delahoussaye, Greg LeBlanc, LHS student trainer Kelci Lyons and LHS health academy instructor Jennifer Morrow.

“From what I understand, he asked the trainer for a cup of water, and then he collapsed,” Gautreaux said.

They saved his life.”

Lyons quickly fetched the defibrillator, while CPR was being done.

“You could tell immediately that he was losing oxygen,” said Payne, who was located in the end zone when he saw Henry fall to the ground. “There was no delay in care. We were breathing for him. We shocked him twice.”

Payne made it clear how important first doing CPR is and then doing to more advanced measures is to proper treatment.
Their heroic efforts were underscored by the fact that the Acadian Ambulance unit scheduled to attend the game was called off to an emergency on its way to the game. They were called again and arrived at the field as the first responders were finishing up their care.

Davidson Fire Chief Jeff Almond said the man apparently had a heart attack and was not breathing.

As emergency personnel arrived, a doctor and a nurse who were attending the game were performing CPR on the man.

Emergency workers took over, continuing CPR.

They administered a shock using an automated defibrillator, and his heart returned to a normal rhythm, the chief said.

The man was taken by ambulance to Presbyterian Hospital in Huntersville, where he was treated briefly. He was then taken on to Presbyterian Hospital’s main location in Charlotte for further treatment.

Beyond that, his condition was not known late Saturday afternoon.

Paul Insco the Survivor ( third from left )

All of a sudden, Inscho suffered a heart attack and fell to the ground in what was a scary incident for everybody.

The football game was quickly forgotten as Inscho’s life hung in the balance.

Fortunately, Dr. David Byrd and Dr. Craig Riley were at the game that night and provided the medical assistance Insco needed.

“From Friday night to the next Tuesday I don’t remember anything so a lot of what I’m telling you is what others have told me,” Inscho said.

“I know it was near the end of the first half and apparently I just dropped to the ground. Dr. Riley said I was likely dead before I hit the ground. Dr. Riley and Dr. Byrd were there and after 15 or 20 minutes of CPR and seven shocks with a defibrillator, they got a heart beat.”

Insco was rushed to Woods Memorial Hospital and later transferred to the University of Tennessee hospital. At UT hospital, it was discovered he had 95 percent blockage of one his ventricles leading to his heart and had an emergency angioplasty.

Inscho is now a TSSAA referee supervisor while Dr. Byrd and Dr. Riley both have private practices. Insco went back onto the field as a referee in 1998 and last year became a TSSAA game officials supervisor.

“(AED) It’s something that you hope you don’t have to use, but you have it if you need it,” Inscho said. “I didn’t know if either Central or McMinn had an AED and I’m glad they do now. Dr. Riley and Dr. Byrd, and I’m sure there were others as well, are the heroes in all this.”

Phil Nusser Saved

Refereeing a basketball game at Ellinwood High School on Jan. 6, Phil Nusser collapsed on the gym floor. His heart stopped beating, and there was no pulse.

Nusser had gone into cardiac arrest.

Billinger, a Washburn University freshman, happened to be home from college for semester break and attended the game.

“I was talking to a friend and heard people yelling and a whistle blowing,” Billinger said.

An off-duty registered EMT for the past six months, she jumped into action.

“There was another EMT, a firefighter, several nurses and my dad, who’s a highway patrolman,” Billinger said of people who rushed to help Nusser. “I called 911 and got the defibrillator, attached it and followed the steps.”

She shocked Nusser’s heart and brought him back quickly. It was the first time she had used the device on a person.

“I didn’t think about it,” Billinger said. “I was just worried about the ref.”

Whisked out of the gym and flown by helicopter to Hutchinson’s Promise Regional Medical Center, doctors removed a blood clot and inserted a stent.

That he survived, with no damage to his heart, is nothing less than a miracle, says Nusser, a St. John resident, who is the Stafford County Roads and Bridge supervisor.

A week later, he has fully recovered and has returned to work, he said. Tuesday night, he was back in the same gymnasium to watch a niece from Lyons play basketball against the Ellinwood girls.

“The stars were lined up in my favor,” he said. “This could have happened at work where I’m by myself a lot, or it could have happened on the living room couch.”

Nusser was thankful he was in Ellinwood, where they have AEDs, when it happened.

“I woke up in the gym,” he said. “I was in the best place to be if something like that was going to happen.”