GOLF LEGEND BERNAND ON CHEATING DEATH: Heart kit saved me and Eriksen ..together let's save many more

Star, 72, calls for defibs at clubs

- WARREN MANGER

Golf legend Bernard Gallacher remembers nothing about the day he nearly died. The ex-Ryder Cup captain had stood up to give an after-dinner speech to fans when his heart stopped without warning – just like footballer Christian Eriksen’s.

What he knows of the struggle to save his life was pieced together from stories he was told after he woke from a coma five days later.

One thing is certain, he would not be alive today had it not been for the venue’s defibrillator.

His heart stopped three times and on each occasion a defibrillator shocked it back into action.

That is why Bernard and his wife Lesley spearheaded a campaign to install the machines at hundreds of golf clubs across the Ireland and the UK Bernard, 72, said: “I am very lucky to be alive. Once your heart stops there are only two things that can save you – CPR and a defibrillator.

“Every football club, golf club, and public place should have a defibrillator.

“They cost so little and it only takes five or 10 minutes to train to use it.”

Bernard suffered a cardiac arrest, caused by a random gene that interfered with the electrical impulses controlling his heartbeat, during a hotel function in Aberdeen in August 2013.

Then 65, the Scottish golfer was fit and living in Ascot, Berks.

He regularly went to the gym and took long walks, did not smoke and drank moderately. There was no warning what was coming.

Bernard says: “Apparently, I started to go a bit grey and started to sweat but I can’t remember.

“Then I fell over like I’d been punched like a boxer.” Luckily, the audience included a nurse who was able to give CPR and the man who supplied the hotel’s defibrillator and trained staff to use it.