Three people awarded the Royal Humane Society Resuscitation Certificates for saving a man’s life at Collingham Football Club in Newark

Three people have been awarded top national life-saving honours for bringing a footballer back from the dead.

The team effort to save 65-year-old Nick Barton’s life at Collingham Football Club in Newark took place on November 26 last year.

Gemma Tarr, Scott Graham and Aston Boyd were posted the Royal Humane Society Resuscitation Certificates for their bravery in saving the man’s life.

Aston was told during a Collingham Football Club match that a walking football player had collapsed, so he rushed to the scene and started performing CPR.

Gemma Tarr, a cardiology nurse, stepped in moments later as she was just metres away.

Scott Graham was coaching his son’s football team, where Gemma’s son was also playing. After noticing people gathering, which restricted the view between the pitch where he was coaching and the one where Nick collapsed, he rushed to help.

“I just got shouted over by one of the mums to make me aware that someone had collapsed and they suspected he was having a heart attack or something was really wrong with him.

“I just ran over onto the other pitch and at that point, Gemma had gone to her knees to start CPR,” said Scott.

Scott supported Gemma and Aston with CPR and between them three they called 911, performed CPR and rushed to get a defibrillator.

Someone else ran to the Co-op near to the club to buy a pack of razor blades to shave Nick’s chest before using the defibrillator.

Within 40 minutes, they managed to resuscitate Nick.

Scott said: “I used to be a medic in the Army for some time so I can’t say a piece of paper [the certificate] does a big deal. It is very nice obviously, it is nice to know that Nick is alright and that he is with his family.

“If anything, this certificate spreads awareness, not just for CPR but I think the most important thing which a lot of people seem to be missing is that the defibrillator, while obviously the CPR from myself and Gemma was vital, the defibrillator is what saved him.

“People need to be aware of that and have training in defibs, because they are very easy to use. People have to have the confidence to get hold of them, be aware of where they are in their area, how to get access to it, whether is via a pin code or phoning a number to a get a pin code.

“They’re the type of stuff that is going to save more lives, in this case without the defib, he would have been dead because we were doing CPR for quite some time and he was unresponsive.

“We will never know, but from experience and particularly with Gemma, because she is a cardiac nurse, you need the defib.”

Gemma added: “I am a cardiac nurse, it’s not a non-familiar situation, however, this was the first time I had to do it outside of work.

“I am just glad that Nick is alright.

“I think it should be mandatory in schools and workplaces for people to learn how to do CPR because it saves lives, just like we saved Nick’s life.”