Just three days earlier, young Jarrod McDonald had completed a CPR course. Little did he know that he would putting his newly acquired skills to the test - on his own uncle.

During a touch football game in Brisbane's north, 49 year old Laurence Crawley suddenly dropped and went unconscious. As luck would have it, not only was his nephew competent in delivering cardio-pulmonary resuscitation, but the referee was off-duty Advanced Care Paramedic, Leonie Van Der Meer who noticed him looking unwell shortly before. "I immediately yelled out 'someone ring an ambulance'" as Mr Crawley's family quickly started effective CPR. Unfortunately the sporting club was not equipped with it's own automatic external defibrillator (AED) but an ambulance crew took six minutes to arrive and deliver the necessary and timely shocks (seven in total) to save his dying heart muscle.

What we do know without a doubt, that if correct CPR was not initiated in those first minutes, Mr Crawley's outcome would have been very different to today, where he is suffering from a sore chest due to the prolonged CPR (40 minutes).

Medical staff from the Prince Charles Hospital inserted a stent to open the blocked coronary artery and give him a fighting chance at a longer life.

"Any sporting club or any place that has numerous people there, you've got to have one," stated Officer Van Der Meer. The club mentioned above is now looking to purchase their own AED.

"Defibrillation in the early stages helps resuscitation of a person."

She also urges people to do a CPR course.

When you call 000, ambulance service Emergency Medical Dispatchers (EMD's) can assist responders or the untrained through the event via telephone with support and voice prompts.

For details about first aid course with an experienced Paramedic, visit help-4-life.com.au or phone Russell on 0439 889 439