Plea from ex-footballer whose heart stopped in gym

Iain Dowie (centre) with the team that saved him

A former Premier League footballer has called for more people to learn life-saving skills after his heart stopped at a gym.

Iain Dowie, 59, had a cardiac arrest at a spin class at Gymworks in Chorley, Lancashire.

The former Crystal Palace player and manager was treated by other gym-goers and paramedics.

He backed calls for more people to learn cardio-pulmonary resuscitation (CPR), saying he was thankful for the "brilliance of everyone involved in my survival and recovery".

'How lucky I am'

Mr Dowie was with his wife doing the exercise class on 18 March when he became ill.

Bystanders helped him off the exercise bike and began giving him CPR. They then used a defibrillator before paramedics arrived and took him to hospital.

Mr Dowie praised "the level of calmness and teamwork that went into getting me delivered to hospital with my heart beating", and said the cracked ribs from the CPR efforts were a "very small price to pay".

He said he remembered "very little" other than "waking up 26 hours later in hospital".

Mr Dowie met with crews as well as dispatchers in the North West Ambulance Service (NWAS) Cumbria and Lancashire control room to thank them for their part in saving his life.

He said: "I frequently reflect on how lucky I am.

"I have lost good friends in similar circumstances."

Mr Dowie said he was backing a NWAS campaign to get more people to learn CPR.

Chris Grant, NWAS Medical Director, said everyone should learn "basic CPR skills".

He said: "Only around 10 per cent of people who suffer an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest survive.

"A major factor in that, as happened here, is receiving early CPR and defibrillation."