Jogger who had a heart attack on New Year's Day raises £6,000 for defibrillators in London's parks

A jogger who suffered a cardiac arrest after a New Year’s Day run has raised more than £6,000 to buy defibrillators for eight London parks.

Neil Cole was saved by fellow runners who performed CPR until London Ambulance medics arrived and shocked him back into life.

Mr Cole, a wealth management director at UBS bank, was 34 when he collapsed at Hilly Fields in Lewisham after his second 5k ParkRun on January 1, 2015.

Earlier he had run around Peckham Rye.

“I went for a run and very nearly never came back,” he said.

“I had a cardiac arrest at the finish line, and my heart stopped beating for the best part of 15 minutes.

I had an underlying problem with my heart that I knew nothing about.

When the doctors found out, they put my chances of survival at about four per cent.”

Cardiologists at King’s College Hospital in Denmark Hill found a complete blockage in a heart artery.

He spent a month in hospital and had a pacemaker fitted.

Eight months later he was back running, and he raised £6,200 after completing the Reading half-marathon last year.

On Saturday Mr Cole was back at Peckham Rye for another ParkRun. The eight parks to get defibrillators are yet to be confirmed — 50 already have them, most kept in cafes.

Fewer than 10 per cent of Londoners survive cardiac arrests, but this rises to 54 per cent when the device is used.

UBS has installed a defibrillator on every floor of its City building. Mr Cole, who is due to marry fiancée Alexandra Atack, 30, said in June: “I feel incredibly lucky that my life was saved that day.

"I’m massively grateful.”