A rigorous weekly football session ended in a life and death battle on the pitch after one of the players collapsed with a heart attack.
Now three life savers who went to the aid of Dr Nick Thomas after he collapsed at Witney Artificial Turf pitch are to receive top national honours for bringing him back from the brink of death.
When Dr Thomas, principal GP at Windrush Medical Practice, collapsed on the evening of August 10 last year, Rayond Keating, King Wai Ng and Henry McKechnie rushed to help him.
Mr McKechnie began administering cardiac pulmonary resuscitation (CPR) while a defibrillator was brought to the scene.
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Dr Thomas was then shocked twice and Mr McKechnie and the others then took it in turns to administer CPR until an ambulance arrived.
Dr Thomas, from Milton-under-Wychwood, was taken to hospital where, thanks to the immediate help he had received, he went on to make a full recovery.
Now the three life-savers have been awarded Royal Humane Society Resuscitation Certificates following a recommendation to the society from Dr Thomas.
In his recommendation Dr Thomas said : “They brought me back and saved my life.”
Andrew Chapman, secretary of the Royal Humane Society, added his praise for the three.
He said: “They did a magnificent job. They were undoubtedly the right people in the right place at the right time.
"They knew what to do and did it and saved Dr Thomas’s life. They richly deserve the awards they are to receive.
“This is another of many cases we see that emphasise the value of as many people as possible, not just members of the emergency services learning how to administer CPR.
"It can, as it did here, make the difference between life and death.”
The roots of the Royal Humane Society stretch back nearly 250 years.
Other than awards made by the Crown it is the premier national body for honouring bravery in the saving of human life.
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It was founded in 1774 by two of the day's eminent medical men, William Hawes and Thomas Cogan, whose primary motive was to promote techniques of resuscitation.
However, as it emerged that many people were prepared to put their own lives at risk to save others, the awards scheme evolved, and today a variety of awards are made depending on the bravery involved.
The Society also awards non-healthcare professionals who perform a successful resuscitation.
Since it was set up the Society has considered over 90,000 cases and made over 220,000 awards.
The Society is a registered charity which receives no public funding and is dependent on voluntary donations.
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