Nick Thomas enjoyed a special invite to Goodison Park from Ashley Young after the player learned of the lifelong Evertonian’s amazing comeback after ‘dying’ on the football pitch.

The 46-year-old works as a GP but his life was saved by the quick-thinking medical skills of others who revived him after he collapsed while playing his weekly Astroturf game with friends in Oxfordshire. Young heard about the tale and asked Nick’s family to come to Everton’s 2-0 win over Nottingham Forest as his guests.

Nick told the ECHO: “It was unbelievable. It was a huge shock and as a family it was a very emotional day for us because we’re so lucky to be together.

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“The video message he sent was something else. We do a lot now with the British Heart Foundation, trying to raise the awareness of CPR and how important it is and it’s amazing that Everton reached out with Ashley.

“It’s an incredible story because I’m so lucky to be here, I know that. I’m thankful for each day that I’m here.

“For Ashley to put the offer out for us to come up and watch a home game, especially one as important as this, it’s incredible. We’re all Evertonians so it’s brilliant.”

Nick was joined at the game by his wife and three sons but explains he owes his life to the actions of his team-mates. He said: “I work hard and play hard, playing football every Thursday in a regular game that’s been going on for about 20 years but I’m one of the fitter ones that play and then down I went. I was so lucky to have the three guys there who knew what to do and if it wasn’t for them, I wouldn’t be standing here right now.

“There was a Manchester United fan who is a firefighter who led the efforts to help me and there was a Chelsea fan who is a police officer too. They recognised straight away that I was dead and they needed to crack on with the CPR.

“They worked on me for about 15 minutes and during that time they got the defibrillator out as there was one on the side of the pitch so we were lucky there. They shocked me twice and brought me back.

“The message is if someone is having a cardiac arrest, it’s too late now so you can do no harm with CPR, just get on with it. Don’t be afraid of it, people aren’t always confident with it but it’s really easy to do.

“The British Heart Foundation have got an amazing device called the RevivR app so you can become self-taught at CPR. It takes just 15 minutes to teach yourself how to do it, all you need is a pillow and your mobile phone.

“After that, you’ll know what to do and be able to have a crack at it. It’s going to be your loved ones, your friends and family, who are most likely to have the event when you’re there.”

The incident happened last August but thanks to the help Nick received, he was back out on the pitch just a couple of months later. He said: “I started playing football again in October. I’m running again now and back fit, it’s amazing.

“You wouldn’t know anything had happened but I’ve got an ICD (implantable cardioverter defibrillator) in, the same as what Tom Lockyer has now got plus the likes of Daley Blind and Christian Eriksen. If it happens again then the ICD should shock me and wake me back up.”

  • Click here for more details on the easy way to learn CPR with the British Heart Foundation.