A Balloch woman who has helped train over 5000 people to give lifesaving treatment has stressed how important it is to start CPR early after Christian Eriksen’s collapse at the weekend.
The 29-year-old Danish superstar dropped to the ground just before half-time in his team’s match with Finland on Saturday evening as part of Euro 2020.
And fans across the world watched in suspense as efforts were made to resuscitate him.
Fortunately, news came through shortly after that he was stable in hospital and was able to talk and images emerged of him being conscious as he was led off the pitch.
Danish captain Simon Kjaer reacted immediately clearing dad-of-two Eriksen’s airway and placing him in the recovery position.
Sheenah, who has been integral in fundraising for defibrillators to be made publicly available across Dumbarton, the Vale, Balloch, Helensburgh and the peninsula said this was a key step in the former Tottenham man’s survival.
She told the Lennox Herald: “There’s trauma when you actually see something like that happening. Watching it, it was amazing how one of the players stepped in and thought ‘something is not right’.
“He instantly started CPR which was absolutely marvellous.
“The sooner that is started the better. There was help there instantly with the defib.
“As we saw, he was conscious when he was taken off the field.”
It was later confirmed Eriksen had suffered a cardiac arrest and had to be brought “back”.
His distraught partner could be seen in tears on the sidelines being comforted by the very man who undertook the first steps to save his life while teammates performed a protective guard around him as medics carried on with lifesaving treatment.
Lennox Herald staff undertook Sheenah’s quick but effective lifesaving first aid session two years ago and she has helped train thousands of others locally as part of Helensburgh and Garelochside Rotary Club.
She stressed the importance of this particularly after the issue was thrust into the spotlight on Saturday.
Sheenah added: “That’s the whole point of doing CPR training. It’s emergency life support and it’s giving someone the confidence to do something.”
Sheenah told how there have been five lives saved during lockdown because of emergency lifesaving treatment being carried out at the scene of a trauma by members of the public locally.
She told how efforts would now be going on to try and confirm why Eriksen’s cardiac arrest happened, with family history being looked at.
And she stressed how important it would be for those involved to be able to debrief.
She added: “After an event like this, you need to sit down with the person and talk them through it so that they can try and process it, get some closure and move on.”
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