Published: 24/02/15 By: Martyn Clapham (Golf Club Management)
Two completely different stories involving golfers suffering from a heart attack on golf courses are being heralded as examples of the good nature of human beings and perhaps the golfing community in particular.
The first involves the reaction to a man who died at Kingsknowe Golf Club near Edinburgh last year, and the second about how a man’s life was saved at Leven Thistle Golf Club, also in Scotland.
Kenny MacFarlane, 58, died after he collapsed while playing at Kingsknowe last May, and the club, which did not have a ‘heart start’ defibrillator, has since purchased one.
There was no defibrillator at the clubhouse – although one has been installed since the tragedy – and his heartbroken wife Fiona, 54, and twin daughters Alana and Lisa, 26, have endured agonising uncertainty over whether the machine could have saved his life.
His wife, Fiona, therefore donated money to the ‘Shockingly Easy’ campaign – run in partnership with the Jamie Skinner Foundation – which was set up in memory of a 13-year-old footballer who died after suffering a cardiac arrest in 2013.
She said: “A defibrillator may not have helped Kenny – we will never know that now – but it would help me and the girls to know that everything possible had been done to try to save him.
“When a sudden death happens there is a ripple effect. It started with me and the girls, then family, friends, colleagues. So many people are affected.
“I think it’s something he would have wanted and would have been proud of. Everybody says Kenny was one of the ‘good guys’. He just had this lovely smile. He never waited for life to come to him, he was always wanting to live it.”
Jamie’s sister, Sonia McCraw, said: “This kind donation has taken us over £27,000 which is absolutely amazing.”
Well-known figures such as Mark Greenaway, Alistair Darling MP and actor Tam Dean Burn posed for pictures as part of an appeal to spread the word about the life-saving devices and to identify venues that needed a defibrillator.
The total raised will pay for 18 defibrillators.
Gordon Robertson was enjoying a round of golf at Leven Thistle with his two friends when he saw a commotion on a nearby green.
Two holes ahead, a 71-year-old player had collapsed on the 10th green. He had stopped breathing and had begun to turn blue.
Mr Robertson, who is first-aid trained, went to find out what the problem was. “I was on the eighth hole and I noticed a commotion up ahead,” he said.
“When I walked over there was a man lying on the green and his friend was holding his legs in the air. I could see the man was in a lot of trouble. I couldn’t find a heartbeat and he was gasping for air. He’d already started to turn blue.
“I was a bit shocked at first because he was just staring into space. However, I knelt down and started going with the CPR. As part of my job, I’ve been first-aid trained so I knew what I was doing.”
Mr Robertson said that it was at least 15 minutes until he noticed a change in the pensioner. “I could eventually see the colour draining back into his face which was a huge relief but he was still in a very serious condition.”
The emergency services then arrived and took over. However, they asked Mr Robertson to carry on giving CPR while they got a defibrillator ready.
He said: “After that, he was taken by ambulance to hospital. I then went back to playing golf with my friends. I think I was on autopilot after that. I had done CPR on a dummy for my training but this had been so, so different.”
A day later, Mr Robertson visited the victim in Victoria Hospital in Kirkcaldy. “He was sitting on a chair in the high-dependency unit. He looked very frail but he was alive. I was slightly worried that I broke his rib when I did the CPR but the nurse reassured me that I hadn’t – and that I had done it just right,” he said.
“I felt happy then with myself for what I had done. It really hit home seeing him there. I think my own family are quite proud of me, too.”
He was also introduced to the man’s family. “They all thanked me for saving his life. That was a good feeling. It goes to show how easy it is to save a life.”
Mr Robertson said he planned to stay in touch with the man, who does not want to be identified. He added: “I knew him as we were both members at the golf club, but of course I know him slightly better now.”
Since the incident, Leven Thistle Golf Club has now decided to buy defibrillators to place around the course to help people if they suffer from a sudden cardiac arrest while playing golf.
