Report by the St John's Ambulance;

A Chelsea football fan and the St John youth volunteer who saved his life with CPR during a Chelsea v Manchester City match, were both reunited after being invited as VIP guests to the Chelsea training ground.

Life-long Chelsea fan Paul Archer, 66, collapsed from a cardiac arrest at Stamford Bridge back in November, and it was volunteer first aider, Prince Tandukar, then 21, who was first on the scene. Doctors have said it was ‘a miracle’ Mr Archer survived as he was clinically dead for 20 minutes.

Hugging and smiling each other at Chelsea’s training ground in Cobham, Surrey, Mr Archer said, “Prince – what an apt name. I am so grateful to be able to thank this impressive and humble individual. You may have broken all my ribs – but I love you for it.”

Recalling the incident, back on 12 November, Prince, 22, a third-year medical student at the University of Buckingham, said, “It was a very eventful game with Chelsea neck and neck at half time with a 3-3 score. I was pitch side by the barrier near the press pen when I heard panicked shouting and screaming. It was a mix of fans and security guards shouting for a medic and I realised someone needed urgent help so I ran up around 15 or so rows to where I could see a security guard waving.”

There Prince found Mr Archer slumped in his chair making short, sharp breaths.

He said, “Mr Archer didn’t look well, and was very red. I took his pulse and tried to stay calm, but it was very chaotic around me. I couldn’t find a pulse, so I tried for a pulse in his neck which is usually stronger, but nothing. Then the gasps stopped altogether, and he slumped forward.”

Prince made the call to get Mr Archer to a nearby first aid room where he could begin CPR. Remembering a stretcher on the back of a door in a small first aid room nearby, Prince told his St John volunteer colleague to radio to the control room for help while he ran to retrieve the stretcher.

“It was a high stress situation with a lot of fans shouting while trying to assess the situation. I think they wanted to see some Greys Anatomy drama or scenes from a movie, but I tried to stay calm and assess the situation. I remembered my St John training which is important especially in a high stress situation. In a moment of crisis, you don’t try to be a hero and just remember what they told you in training and calmly assess the situation and fall back on your training. St John really do good training.”

The medical student, who hopes to be an orthopaedic surgeon said, “I had never done CPR for real, I was just a 21 year-old medical student, usually with seniors around me and suddenly it was just me and Mr Archer in the medical room. I was full of adrenalin and on my first compression I heard a pop and knew I had cracked Mr Archer’s ribs. This didn’t deter me as I knew this could happen and for CPR to work, it needs to be forceful. It was a sign I was doing it correctly. I was doing CPR solidly for around eight minutes or so I think. I just went into the zone. There is so much tissue and muscle you lose some of the force when doing CPR, so it needs to be firm.”

For the full story visit St John's Ambulance (sja.org.uk)