West Lothian runner 'collapsed and stopped breathing' while taking part in relay race

A West Lothian man survived a cardiac arrest after a defibrillator located 200 meters away was used to restart his heart.

Malcolm Hughes, 64, from Linlithgow, collapsed and stopped breathing in March this year during a relay race at Glasgow Green, reports The Daily Record.

Following the terrifying incident, the 64-year-old is now appealing for defibrillator's to be publicly registered.

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Malcolm said: "I was running when I started to feel unwell and shortly after that I blacked out. Another runner phoned 999 and was directed to the defibrillator which was about 200 meters away at the boathouse. I’m just incredibly fortunate that it happened when it did, where it did.

“One of the main reasons that I’m still alive today is that the passersby who witnessed my collapse were directed to the nearest defibrillator by the emergency services. This was only possible because the defib had been registered on The Circuit.”

Stephen Lappin, 59, from Glasgow, also suffered cardiac arrest only a few weeks after Malcolm while taking part in a lunchtime run in the park. The same defibrillator was used to restart his heart.

In both cases a member of the public called 999 and the emergency call handler directed them to the nearest defibrillator registered on The Circuit – the national network which allows emergency services to locate and direct callers to the life saving devices. The defib was on the outside wall of the nearby boathouse.

Stephen said: "I decided to come and run the 3k on the Green event. People told me that I collapsed spectacularly and got everyone’s attention. Someone went to fetch the defibrillator, and I understand that I had several minutes of CPR and then one shock from the defibrillator.

"The fact that the defib was there, so close to me, is the reason why I am here today. What are the odds of two people and the same defib? Its miraculous.”

Neither Malcolm nor Stephen know what caused their cardiac arrests, but both have now been fitted with ICDs (implantable cardioverter defibrillators) which will issue a shock to their heart in the event of another cardiac arrest.

There are currently over 98,000 defibrillators registered on The Circuit across the UK, but they are not evenly distributed. Data has shown that deprived communities need better support to help improve response times to an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest. The British Heart Foundation fears that gaps in the map of defibrillators are putting lives at risk.

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There are around 3,200 out-of-hospital cardiac arrests (OHCAs) in Scotland each year and the survival rate is less than one in 10.

Every minute without CPR and defibrillation reduces the chance of survival by up to 10 per cent so knowing where the nearest defibrillator is located could be the difference between life and death.

GP Rebecca Toal, is the ‘defibrillator guardian’ of the equipment. These two occasions are the only time it has been deployed since it was installed in 2023.

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She said: “When I found out that our defibrillator had saved two men’s lives it was overwhelming and quite emotional.

“Had the defibrillator not been available to the public and registered on The Circuit then these two men may have lost their lives.

“It doesn’t take a lot of time or effort to register a defibrillator, and it saves lives, so really it is a no-brainer.”

You can check if your defib is registered at www.defibfinder.uk and you can register at www.thecircuit.uk