A dad who survived being stabbed just an inch from his heart said he begged paramedics to keep him alive in the hope of meeting his unborn son.
Brave James Harrison, 29, was stabbed after he stepped in to break up a 10-man fight in his hometown of Pudsey, near Leeds, after England’s 0-0 draw with Scotland in the Euros on June 18.
But it was when he felt a pain in his back that he realised someone had plunged a knife into it, reports Leeds Live.
He said that in that moment he felt calm but couldn’t stop thinking about his partner Emily Hough, 27, who was 36-weeks pregnant.
He was rushed to Leeds General Infirmary by ambulance where he recalled telling the paramedics: “I’m going to be a dad. Just don’t let me die, I have to meet my son.”
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Surgeons at the hospital operated for two hours and successfully removed his spleen which had been sliced through by the blade and caused him to bleed internally - and he lost more than four pints of blood.
Scans later revealed that had the knife pierced just an inch higher he would have been stabbed through the heart - and likely would have died at the scene.
But joyous James said it was the ‘greatest feeling in the world’ when he held his first-born son Lukas James on Aug 8 - just weeks after the attack which left him hospitalised.
Little Lukas was born at 1.53pm at the same hospital where James was treated, and weighed 7lbs 8oz.
James, from Pudsey, said: “All I was thinking about was surviving for my family, and for my son.
“I need to get through this for Lukas. I need to survive for him.
“I didn’t want my son to have a tragic story and never meet his dad.
“When I finally got the chance to hold him it just felt incredible - it was everything that I thought it would be.
“It was the greatest feeling in the world. After the absolute hell that we endured.
“To go from nearly dying and not being able to experience that, it’s made it ten times more special.
“We even forgot about all about it, the only thing that mattered was Lucas and our little family.”
James said when he found out his partner of nearly two years Emily was pregnant he was overjoyed as he couldn’t wait to be a father and start his own family.
But on that fateful afternoon, he said he was terrified he would never see the day.
James, a telecommunications engineer, said: “I’ve been waiting all of my life to have a family and it felt like it was going to be taken from me.
“I knew I had to be strong for my little boy and for Emily. I kept talking to myself and reassuring myself.”
James said was driving home from the match when he saw the brawl break out near the bus stop in Pudsey.
He spotted a mate and wanted to drag him out of the situation, and while looking away to check on his friend he was stabbed in the lower back from behind.
The knife ruptured his diaphragm and left him unable to breathe.
James added: “I closed my eyes and looked up to the sky and just said no way, I looked at my hands and they were bloodied and I knew someone had stabbed me.”
Following surgery, James had to learn how to walk again and has been told he will need to be on antibiotics for the rest of his life.
But the proud dad-of-one said he feels ‘lucky’ as he was able to survive the attack and meet his son.
He said: “I woke up in a high dependency unit, and when I looked down I had a massive bandage.
“I felt like I had been hit by a bus. My body’s never been through so much trauma, there was the stabbing, the bruises, then the surgery.
“The biggest shock was learning to walk again, as I’d been in bed for five days and when I did physio I couldn’t even stand.
“I saw the MRI scans a few weeks later, and it was an inch away from my heart and I would have been dead before the ambulance even got to me.
“As bad as it was, I was so lucky.
“I have to take antibiotics for the rest of my life but I can still live a healthy life with my family.”
James is now urging young people to stop carrying weapons and hopes to campaign in schools to raise awareness.
He said: “I want to start campaigning in schools to educate children about knife crimes, my main message is to put the knife down.”
