‘I died for five minutes while watching Aston Villa but a CPR angel saved my life in Birmingham’

An Aston Villa fan who 'died for five minutes' after suffering a cardiac arrest during a match has been reunited with the fellow supporter who saved his life.

Josh Moseley, 24 collapsed while watching the Europa Conference League semi-final first leg against Olympiacos at Villa Park on May 2.

Off-duty trainee paramedic Heidi Elliott leapt into action and clambered over seats in order to reach him in the lower tier of the Holte End as it was evacuated.

Season ticket holder Heidi was able to perform life-saving CPR before medical staff arrived with a defibrillator as horrified fans watched on. Josh was rushed to at Birmingham’s Queen Elizabeth Hospital where he was fitted with a mini-defibrillator and spent a week recovering.

The pair met properly for the first time on Monday (May 13) ahead of the Premier League match against Liverpool - just 11 days on from the terrifying ordeal. Dad-of-two Josh, an engineer, from Bloxwich, told how he “basically died for five minutes” and described Heidi as his "guardian angel."

Sign up today to get all of the latest news headlines from Birmingham and the West Midlands delivered straight to your inbox, with BirminghamWorld’s free newsletter

He said: “Going back to Villa Park brought me to tears. The last time I was there, I left in an ambulance. It was amazing meeting Heidi. I told her there really are no words to explain what she has done.

“She saved my life. How many times can you say 'thank you'? It is never going to be enough. My kids, my partner, my mom, my dad would have lost me. By her actions she made sure it was not the case.

“She recognised straight away what was happening. Apparently she just came out of nowhere, like my guardian angel. She kept me going until the medical staff got there and gave me a defib.

“I didn’t have a pulse. I wasn’t breathing. I was stone cold dead. It’s scary. I am only 24. I have two little girls at home who are one-and-a-half and three months old. There is my partner Lauren too. You can imagine what that would have done. I am just grateful Heidi is in this world and was there at that particular moment, like it was all meant to happen.”

Josh, who sits on the Holte End together with dad Jason and brothers Ethan and Tom, suffered a ventricular fibrillation which caused his heart to stop beating. He remembers nothing of the incident, which occurred just before half-time during the 4-2 first leg defeat.

He added: “I went and met my dad before the game, as we always do. I went into the ground, put my bets on, like I always do. I went and had a beer, was singing and what have you.

“We were watching the game and after 20 minutes Villa were 2-0 down and I am thinking: ‘For God’s sake’. Then Ollie Watkins scored. I remember him scoring, how he scored, everything. Then I don’t remember anything. I woke up in an ambulance. I basically died for five minutes.”

Heidi, an ambulance technician and trainee paramedic from Leicestershire, was later invited to Villa’s Bodymoor Heath training ground to meet the squad in recognition of her heroics. The club also awarded her a complimentary season ticket and more than £1,000 has been raised through a GoFundMe set up by Josh’s partner, Lauren, for charity.

Josh said: “Heidi doesn’t want any gratitude for what she has done.  She is a very humble human being and I am so glad there are people like her in the world. She told me she just did what anyone else would do. And yes, maybe you should think like that - but a lot of people don’t. They just stand there and watch. She took it upon herself, scrambled over those seats to help.

“I just think it is amazing. In a crowd of people, with all the emotion and the panic. My dad was screaming and crying his eyes out. With all those people there, she just came out of nowhere and was so calm.”

Josh is now back at home recovering with his family, including daughters Frances and Margot, after spending a week in hospital. He is undergoing further tests to determine what caused the ventricular fibrillation but most of all is desperate to tell people the importance of learning CPR.

He said: “Everyone in my family now wants to learn it. It saved my life. What scared me the most is how normal I felt. I had no chest pain, nothing. I would have never known, unless someone would have told me, that I was about to have a cardiac arrest.

“I want people to understand how important CPR is and how quickly someone who is loved can be taken away from you. I can’t explain what I think of Heidi and what she has done for me, my children, my partner, my dad and my mom and everyone. 

"God knows what it would have been like if I had not pulled through. I find myself going to bed at night now and thinking: ‘What the hell?’ I just went to a football match. I didn’t expect this. I didn’t want this. But I am still here. That is the main thing and it is all down to Heidi. I am just thankful someone sent her to save me.”

Heidi previously described how she had stepped in after noticing a commotion at the half-time interval. She told the BBC: "About four or five rows in front of us there was a commotion, with a large group of people waving trying to get the attention of stewards. 

"That caught my eye and when I looked over I saw the young lad on the floor, bless him. He didn’t look well and I could tell that something was wrong. I looked where the paramedics were but we didn’t have their attention yet. That’s why I thought I can’t just stand there at that point and I had to go down and help."