'I was dead at one point' - a footballer's 'miracle' return

It was a Friday night - just like countless Friday nights before it - for Adam Dodd, a popular left-sided player with non-league FC United of Manchester.

A Thai takeaway with his girlfriend Kat, and a chance to catch up and unwind after a busy week for the couple.

A few hours later Dodd was in the intensive care unit at Blackpool Victoria Hospital.

Kat had woken up after hearing her 29-year-old partner gasping for air.

She tried to wake him but after getting no response, Kat performed life-saving CPR on Dodd while paramedics raced to their home in Kirkham, Lancashire.

He had gone into cardiac arrest in his sleep.

"I wouldn't be here today but for Kat," says Dodd about the events which unfolded in the early hours of 4 June 2022.

"I was dead at one point. When the paramedics arrived it took four attempts to shock my heart back into a normal rhythm."

More than two years on - and back playing football for non-league Lancashire team Bamber Bridge - Dodd is urging all supporters to learn CPR.

"It takes 15 minutes of your time - if that," he adds. "There is no better skill than being able to save a life."

'It was like drowning and being stabbed at the same time'

"You can't die, you can't die - that's all I kept thinking," says Kat when asked what was going through her mind while performing CPR on her boyfriend.

She had learned the emergency procedure through her job as a primary school teacher.

At the time the couple, who went to the same high school in Kirkham, had been together for five years.

"You never think you are going to have to perform CPR on the love of your life," adds Kat.

Dodd, who was on Blackpool's books as a player between the ages of 12 and 21, spent four days in an induced coma.

"I remember the day Adam woke up from the coma. He recognised me and it was just the best moment," recalls Kat.

"I thought, 'I've got him back'."

But there were more problems ahead.

Three weeks after being admitted, Dodd was discharged from hospital after being fitted with a subcutaneous implantable cardioverter defibrillator (S-ICD) under his skin, which sends electrical pulses to regulate abnormal heart rhythms.

A few days later, however, he was back in hospital after complications.

"I got pneumonia while I was in a coma and my left lung partially collapsed," says Dodd. "I was waking up in the middle of the night in pools of sweat.

"It was like drowning and being stabbed at the same time. I had to go back to hospital for another three weeks."

Playing at the San Siro one year after cardiac arrest

Incredibly, one year after his cardiac arrest Dodd played for FC United of Manchester in a tournament at the San Siro Stadium in Milan, one of the most iconic grounds in world football, after being given the all-clear to resume playing again.

It was an emotional moment, with his dad Paul and brother Ryan travelling to Italy to watch him play.

"I was pinching myself and asking myself if this was real," says Dodd, who has played at left-back and in midfield. "It was a miracle I was playing again."

A few days before the game at the San Siro, he had broken down in tears at home as the emotions of what he and Kat had been through flooded back on the first anniversary of it all happening.

A feeling of guilt still lingers for putting those close to him through so much anguish.

"My mum [Suzanne] had two brain haemorrhages so I know what it's like to be in an intensive care unit waiting room when the nurse tells you they may never wake up," adds Dodd.

"Even if they do they may not know who you are. I know that feeling, I felt a lot of guilt from that."

Dodd left FC United of Manchester in June 2023 after 118 competitive games.

The club released a statement which said: "A character who gave it all for FC United of Manchester, he will be missed on and off the pitch, thanks Adam, you're always welcome back."

Dodd is forever grateful for the way FC United of Manchester supporters rallied to support him and Kat while he was in hospital and unable to work, raising £7,670 to help pay his mortgage while he recovered.

"I can't thank them enough," he adds.

'Kat means the world to me'

Two months ago the couple got married in an emotional ceremony in front of close family and friends before enjoying a honeymoon in South Africa and Zanzibar.

"Kat means the world to me," says Dodd, who works as a full-time plumber. "For her to be able to handle everything the way she has, I'm in awe of her."

Dodd has to go back to hospital twice a year for an echocardiogram, a scan used to look at the heart.

But he is able to make plans for the future with his new wife as he admits: "I know I'm very lucky. I look at life a lot differently than before. You take so many things for granted. I appreciate the little things more."

When he is not working or playing football, Dodd is encouraging people to learn CPR.

"I'd know what to do now [CPR] but that's only because of what happened to me," he adds.

"People think they will never be in a situation where they have to perform CPR on someone...but you just never know."