Christian Eriksen collapse: Defibrillators 'must be accessible' in football

"I had a lump in my throat. There were tears in my eyes and I was silent for five or 10 minutes."

Like many others, Astley Mulholland was watching the Euros on the weekends and saw Denmark midfielder Christian Eriksen collapse on the pitch.

He'd suffered a cardiac arrest and needed emergency treatment, including CPR on the field.

But watching this hit much closer to home for 33-year-old Astley. His brother Kyle died in 2005 after having a cardiac arrest while playing football.

Astley started a campaign five years ago to have defibrillators in all football grounds, which has been supported by people like footballer Jesse Lingard.

The petition, which currently has over 60,000 signatures, says: "If there had been the right equipment on-site or trained personnel my brother may have survived.

"I'm going to try and make sure unnecessary deaths never happen again."

Kyle (left) passed away while playing football

A defibrillator is a device that gives a high energy electric shock to the heart of someone who is in cardiac arrest - when the heart stops beating normally - and is an important part in trying to save the life of someone in that situation.

Research suggests that administering defibrillation within three to five minutes of collapse can produce better survival rates - as high as 50-70%.

Astley tells Radio 1 Newsbeat it's great to see that Christian Eriksen is on the road to recovery.

"The medical teams are brilliant and it shows defibrillators work. That's why I'm trying to campaign for more defibrillators and funding for grassroots to have those machines.

"Not just in football grounds but everywhere because they're really valuable."

Fabrice Muamba collapsed in 2012 and says he's fortunate to have been able to receive medical care that saved his life

Fabrice Muamba says the lesson to learn is "people should learn how to do CPR and defibrillators must be accessible to everybody".

"Like fire extinguishers are accessible to everyone in every building," he tells Newsbeat.

Fabrice collapsed when his heart stopped during a game in 2012. Doctors spent six minutes trying to resuscitate the Bolton Wanderers midfielder during an FA Cup quarter-final, and he was said to have been "in effect dead" for 78 minutes.

He recovered, but retired from the game later that year on medical advice.

Like Astley, the incident brought back painful memories for Fabrice.

"But what I really liked was how quickly he [Christian Eriksen] got support from the medical side. Not everybody has that kind of opportunity."

Astley wants more to be done for defibrillators to be available across all sports venues

Fabrice adds he and Eriksen "were fortunate to have the best medical care available" when they collapsed, which isn't the case for everyone.

Both his and Eriksen's incidents have "highlighted an issue", he says.

"It's so important to have an access to a defibrillator and how much of a chance you have to recover from a sudden cardiac arrest if you have good medical care available."

'Everyone has a duty of care'

Astley feels players like Fabrice are "an inspiration".

"I remember seeing what happened with him and that brought it all back. When he comes out and speaks about this, it touches me deeply and many others out there."

Both Astley and Fabrice were happy to see the football community unite around this issue.

"To me it just shows what can happen when we all come together," Astley says.

They both feel it's important for there to be action to ensure enough funding for defibrillators to be available across all sports facilities, not just elite level.

"There's a conversation about how much elite clubs can do for lower league clubs. I think everybody has a duty of care," Fabrice says.

Astley adds: "I think if the FA, elite clubs and government come together, the more heads the better. And the easier it can be."

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