David Ginola reveals details of heart attack horror that left him dead for eight minutes and praises kids learning CPR
DAVID GINOLA has hailed schools for teaching children CPR after it saved his life when suffering a serious heart attack.
The Premier League legend, 53, was “clinically dead” for eight minutes after his terrifying ordeal in 2016.
The Frenchman was playing in a charity match in his homeland when he collapsed due to a heart attack.
Guinea Bissau international Frederic Mendy, 31, performed CPR on the former Tottenham and Newcastle winger until he was able to receive proper medical care by emergency medical staff.
Reflecting on the incident, Ginola spoke of his happiness at discovering kids are now being taught how to perform CPR.
He told : “I am very happy to see kids are taught cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) which can save someone’s life.
“When I collapsed, of the approximately 15 people on the pitch, only one or two people knew how to perform cardiopulmonary resuscitation.
“I was very lucky that those around me knew how to perform the cardiopulmonary resuscitation.”
Ginola added: “When I collapsed it was CPR that made the oxygen get to my brain and saved my life.
“The heart surgeon that operated on me in the hospital told me that without that, I would not have survived.”
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Ginola was transported from the pitch by air ambulance to hospital in Monaco and received a quadruple bypass.
He spent seven years playing in the English top-flight following his arrival at Newcastle in 1995 from Paris Saint-Germain.
He moved to Spurs in 1997, where he won the PFA Player of the Year accolade, before a two-year stint at Aston Villa was followed by a brief spell at Everton in 2002, his last club before retirement.