Jim Blockley, a 51-year-old builder from Glenfield, fell ill during the second half of City’s 2-0 victory over the La Liga side on Tuesday 14 March. After the timely intervention of an off-duty fireman, stewards, paramedics and St John Ambulance volunteers, however, Jim’s life was saved last month.
Among 31,520 spectators at King Power Stadium, they worked as a team to ensure that Jim received the CPR treatment that he needed on the running track at the bottom of the Family Stand before safely seeing him transferred to Leicester Royal Infirmary within 15 minutes of his cardiac arrest.
Last Monday, Jim, who was later taken to Glenfield Hospital, was back on Filbert Way to thank those who came to his aid: “I got a cutting pain in my chest. I had a hot drink but I didn’t feel right. My wife asked if I wanted a paramedic and I said 'yeah'. I felt dizzy and then that’s all I remember.
“Next thing I remember is in Glenfield Hospital. I had been out for a long time. The first thing I said when I woke us was ‘what was the score?’ They couldn’t believe that I could remember where I was. I knew we were 1-0 up. The work they do is unreal. It’s hard to thank them enough.”
As match day paramedics from the East Midlands Ambulance Service made their way to Jim, City fans Caz Whiteman, an off-duty firefighter, and Dr David Goodwin began providing emergency first aid.
Cliff Ward, Events Manager at EMAS, was watching on from the command centre at King Power Stadium: “We’re match medical commanders and we’re in charge of the medical response to the crowd. I’m also part of the medical safety advisor group which discusses safety at football stadia in the East Midlands.
“I’ve seen a whole variety of things. We have had some cardiac arrests here before. This has been a fantastic success. We’ve got a team who works here on a regular basis. This is a specialised events team. We have a specialist team and it worked really well. It’s a feather in the cap for ourselves and the Leicester City stewards.
“It was an atmospheric night but Jim still had the best medical response he could have had. He went to Glenfield which is the one of the best cardiac arrest centres in the country."
Recalling the incident, Cliff added: “We had a call that somebody had collapsed in the stands. The St John Ambulance were on their way up. The stewards got him out of the crowd and the lady in the crowd started CPR. The paramedics and the doctor came down to the running track which made it a lot easier.
“In the meantime, we were sending people into the right place. We got the ambulance to the gate. We had warned Leicester Royal Infirmary and he was there within 15 minutes. They sedated him there and then transferred him across to Glenfield.
“Everyone at the Club never hesitates in situations like this. If you’re going to suffer a cardiac arrest, in many ways, this is one of the safest places in the country to have it. When you get a result like this, it is very pleasing indeed and Jim will be able to see many more matches because of the hard work of everyone involved that night.”