Trainee doctor Mike Davies was ten minutes into a game of rugby when he collapsed on the pitch.
His heart had stopped beating – but he survived the seizure thanks to the fact he was playing with a team of medical students.
Since that day last November, Mike's life has been saved again by an implant that monitors his heart and delivers an electrical charge if it fails to beat correctly.
Mike, 23, came within seconds of being one of the 70,000 victims of Sudden Cardiac Death (SCD) every year in Britain. SCD happens when the heart's timing system goes wrong. It is more common in older people but strikes all ages.
In 2003, Manchester City midfielder Marc-Vivien Foe died on the pitch while playing for Cameroon against Colombia. He was an SCD victim aged just 28.
If it happens outside a hospital, the chances of surviving are only 20 to one.
But many of those deaths could be prevented with an Implantable Cardioverter Defibrillator (ICD).
The one Mike had fitted after recovering from his collapse has already saved his life. Mike who is studying medicine in Southampton, recalled the day he learned his heart had a flaw.
He said: "I had the ball then I just stumbled and collapsed. If not for my team-mates and first aid I would have died."
The following month he had his Medtronic ICD put in.
He said: "I tried to play rugby again but got a shock from my ICD. It hurts. It's a weird feeling, like being slapped in the back."
The shock is caused by the ICD picking up signs that his heart had tried to stop. It delivers an 800-volt charge to the organ, restoring it to a normal rhythm. The device is now being fitted to 3,000 people a year in the UK.
Mike said: "I can't do extreme exercises now but I can go cycling and do things like running and touch rugby.
"Without the ICD I would be scared to walk down the road."
For more information on SCD contact Cardiac Risk in the Young (01737 363 222).
Read more about young people living with heart conditions
