A 14-year-old boy who had a heart attack saved by quick-thinking friends who remembered a CPR lesson from school

Joel Massey, 14, had a heart attack and suddenly collapsed while playing football with his friends near his home in Ledbury, Hertfordshire. Ben Stevens, 16, at once remembered how to perform CPR thanks to a First Aid class he'd learned in school and carried out CPR and mouth-to-mouth resuscitation.

Two other boys, Sam Seaborn and Rhodri Whittaker, both 16, ran for help and called 999. Doctors say Joel’s heart stopped for ten minutes, but thanks to his friends, he is expected to make a full recovery.

Joel was diagnosed with Wolff-Parkinson-White when he was 13. Sufferers sometimes are at risk of cardiac arrest, but they say this usually happens to people who are much older than Joel.

When Joel suddenly collapsed, his friends thought he was mucking about and kicked the ball to him. But Joel did not react, so his friends understood that something was seriously wrong.

Joel told Daily Mail that he could not remember anything about that day. “I can't believe what the boys did. I am indebted to them really. They saved my life. I think it has brought us all a lot closer together,” he said.

Joel feels fine now, but he has to stay in the hospital and undergo a cardiac ablation to repair his irregular heartbeat. Cardiologist Dr Vinay Bhole, who is treating Joel, said that if the operation is successful “he will not need any more medication and if it is not then he will need another operation so we can try again.”

Joel's mother Andrea, 44, said her son was very lucky to have such good friends who saved his life.

“Everyone should learn how to do CPR because you never know when you'll need to use it,” she said.

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