A lifelong supporter paid an emotional visit to our stadium today (Monday 24 February) to thank the paramedics who recently saved his life following a cardiac arrest.
Lifelong fan Bruno Bertoncini, 64, recently suffered a cardiac arrest whilst at dinner with a friend in Cockfosters just a few hours after he had participated in a stadium tour.
His life was saved thanks to the response by the London Ambulance Service and he has since made a full recovery; however, Bruno cannot remember anything about the day itself that the incident occurred.
On hearing his story – we invited Bruno back to the stadium to tell his story and reunite with the paramedics who saved his life, before undergoing a tour with one of his Spurs heroes – the great Ossie Ardiles.
Bruno said: “This has been a really special day for me, particularly meeting Ossie as he’s a player I watched throughout his career. It was also very emotional coming back to do the tour – walking around I couldn’t remember anything from my previous visit.”
When Bruno suffered his cardiac arrest, Emergency Medical Technician Gabi Villar and Paramedic Amber Muddle were two of the London Ambulance Service responders first on the scene. They were able to resuscitate Bruno using a defibrillator – a life-saving device that restarts the heart.
Last summer, the London Ambulance Charity launched a ground-breaking fundraising campaign, London Heart Starters, to buy life-saving defibrillators for the communities most in need and improve cardiac arrest survival rates.
Tottenham Hotspur Stadium has a total of 58 defibrillators on-site and the Club recently delivered automated external defibrillator training to our staff to inform use of the life-saving devices in the event of an emergency.
Mark Faulkner, Consultant Paramedic and Associate Clinical Director at London Ambulance Service, explains the importance of the campaign in improving survival rates for cardiac arrests: “Bruno is very lucky to have survived thanks to the quick use of a defibrillator. These devices are incredibly easy to operate, and people are nearly four times more likely to survive if they have one used on them in time.
“However, our own analysis has found there are large discrepancies between communities in outcomes for cardiac arrest and the availability of life-saving devices. This means that households in more deprived areas are more likely to be in greater need of additional defibrillators.
“People in these priority neighbourhoods can help their neighbours and loved ones by hosting or fundraising for a defibrillator in their community or by registering to become a London Lifesaver and receiving training in CPR and how to use a defibrillator.”
Gabi Villar added: “It was great to meet Bruno and see that he is doing so well. It’s incredible that he survived as the chances of surviving an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest are really quite slim.”
The Club is also a supporter of the Justin Edinburgh 3 Foundation – named after our legendary former defender who tragically died of a cardiac arrest at the age of 49. The Foundation campaigns for access and installation of life-saving defibrillators mandated by legislative change, while inspiring a generation of heroes with the confidence and competence to perform CPR.