Football: Futsal near-tragedy averted by use of defibrillator

Footballer Josh Margetts is lucky to be alive.

A year ago, the former national futsal rep suffered a heart attack during training, only for his life to be saved by a quick-thinking friend and an Automated External Defibrilator.

It's the reason why New Zealand Football is aiming to put an AED in every club in the country.

Margetts and his lifesaving mate, Kareem Osman, have been drawn closer by those events.

"It's a little bit tricky to recall it, because my memory was blanked out," Margetts recalled.

It began as just another Auckland Futsal training for Margetts, until suddenly his heart stopped and he collapsed.

But within seconds, Osman was there to help.

"It was all a bit of a shock, because you don't expect a fit 24-year old to go down like that," said Osman.

As a registered doctor, Osman immediately called for a defibrilator and administered CPR for about 18 minutes.

"All the boys lined up there and half of them were in tears," he remembered.

Margetts was rushed to hospital, where he was in an induced coma for two days.

"It's tough thinking about it from my teammates perspective, because they had to experience all of that," said Margetts.

Luckily for him, this story had a happy ending, but without the defibrilator it could have been very different.

That's why New Zealand Football's injury prevention manager Meg Crockett wants to have one of these AEDs available for every club in the country.

More than 100 clubs now have an AED, via NZF's 'SmartStart' programme, but they still have nearly 300 to go.

And Josh Margetts is living proof it's a goal that's well worth pursuing.

Newshub.