An Angus man has told of the moment his heart stopped after a game of squash in Dundee.
Mal Adams was at Dundee University’s sports centre when he started to feel unwell after playing what his friend described as his “best ever game”.
He suffered a cardiac arrest just moments later.
The incident happened on one Tuesday night in February 2019, after Mal had travelled to Dundee following work in Aberdeen.
The 58-year-old, from Arbroath, had gone to get changed after his squash game when he collapsed.
He said: “One of the guys in my team said it was the best game of squash I have ever played. I then marked someone else’s game, and then went to get changed.
“I then said to the guy I was with, ‘I’m not feeling very well’, and I just collapsed.”
Members of staff at the sports centre performed CPR and an ambulance was called.
The pair used a nearby defibrillator while the call handler gave instructions over the phone.
A community first responder also attended and provided assistance until the first ambulance crew arrived four minutes later.
They absolutely saved my life and I will be forever grateful for that”
Mal Adams
Mal, a dad of three, was placed in an induced coma and woke up at Ninewells Hospital nine or 10 days later.
His first words to his wife when he woke up were: “I’m starving.”
Following his cardiac arrest, Mal had to get help with his speech and relearn the alphabet.
He was sent to a rehabilitation ward at the Royal Victoria Hospital in Dundee where he also underwent occupational therapy.
‘I couldn’t even spell ‘cat”
Mal spent three months in hospital before returning home to continue his recovery.
Speaking after being reunited with the Scottish Ambulance Service medics who saved his life, Mal added: “I had to learn the alphabet again and how to spell things.
“I couldn’t even spell ‘cat’, but I have progressed from that.
“There are still difficult days, but I’ve come a huge way from where I was and I just accept now things have changed.”
Conversation