Bedford nurse reunites with football fan whose life she saved with CPR

A nurse from Bedford has reunited with a Luton Town supporter whose life she saved after he collapsed on his way to stadium.

Sue Collins, a resuscitation nurse practitioner at Bedford hospital, was walking towards the club on Kenilworth Road with her family on December 30 when she heard someone saying: “Dad, Dad, are you okay?”

This turned out to be Steve, the son of lifelong Luton Town supporter Paul, who collapsed in front of Sue.

She explained: “I helped to lower him to the floor and quickly assessed him. It was apparent that he was unresponsive and not breathing.”

Quickly, she got her daughter, Rose, to call for an ambulance while Sue started chest compressions. She said: “I then asked Andy, my husband, to find a defibrillator in the club. I continued with CPR for six to seven minutes until two police officers arrived.

“One of them took over from me with chest compressions, and after a few seconds we achieved a pulse, and Paul gradually started to respond to Steve.”

Staff from St John Ambulance arrived with a defibrillator, which wasn’t needed in the end. The East of England Ambulance Service (EEAST) took Paul to the Luton and Dunstable hospital before he was transferred to Cambridge's Royal Papworth Hospital for open heart surgery.

Days later, Sue had a phone call from LTFC to tell her that Paul had survived and was recovering in hospital. Sue and

Sue said: “His family made contact with me and I met them a few times. On Sunday, March 17, I finally met Paul for the first time, which was amazing and very emotional.”

A day later, Sue, Paul and his family returned to Kenilworth Road and met Ollie, from one of the club’s supporters groups. They saw the two new automated external defibrillators that the fans had raised money to buy. These are for the public to use, and have been placed on their side of the stadium.

Following the incident and Tom Lockyer’s cardiac arrest, Sue has offered the club CPR and defibrillator training for both the public and club staff.