A DAD from Dalbeattie who dropped dead like heart scare footballer Fabrice Muamba is celebrating being brought back to life — by running a MARATHON.
Dalbeattie Dad-of-three , Ex-soldier Steven Mckillop is lucky to be alive after his heart dramatically stopped for over TEN MINUTES back in 2012.
The ex-soldier was only saved when a quick-thinking pal raced Steven in his car to the local doctor’s surgery, where he was zapped back to life.
The 46-year-old is using his second chance to raise money for the British Heart Foundation and grinned: “I’m a dead man running.
Steven was enjoying a tea break in pal Frank Stitt’s van when he suffered a massive cardiac arrest on July 26, 2012.
College lecturer Steven, from Dalbeattie, Dumfriesshire, said: “The very last thing I remember is Frank saying ‘Are you going to give me a drink of that water?’. I was joking ‘No’ and that was it. Bang.
“I had no pain, there was no feeling of being unwell — but that was it. Frank says he just turned round and my whole upper body was shaking in a spasm. He said my eyes were just dead.
“The only thing he could think of was to put my seat belt on and race me to the clinic in Dalbeattie a mile away.
“Frank was panicking. He went the wrong way down a one-way street and got beeped at. He ran in and shouted he needed a doctor. Dr Sebastian Pflanz took over. He couldn’t feel any pulse.
“They got a defibrilator and luckily for me it picked up a trace of something and Dr Pflanz pressed the button. One blast and I was back.”
An ambulance rushed stricken Steven to the Dumfries and Galloway Royal Infirmary, where he was put in a medically induced coma for three days.
Steven said: “I vividly remember wretching as they pulled a pipe out of my throat.
“I was stunned when people explained what had happened to me because I was only 44 and had never been ill in my life. I’m one hell of a lucky guy to still be here.”
“I remember thinking ‘What’s going on? Why am I being sick? Who are these people?’.
He added: “I’ve been fitted with the same device as Fabrice Muamba.
“The Implantable Cardioverter Defibrillator fits in your chest and leads go into your heart.
“If anything like what happened happens again, it will automaticvally defibrilate me. I feel like the bionic man.”
Understandably, Steven’s confidence was rocked by his sudden health scare.
He said: “It was certainly a shock to my wife and kids. They were on eggshells when I came home, not wanting me to do anything.
“My wife actually said to the kids, ‘I bet when your dad wakes up the first thing he does is apologise’ and funnily enough that’s what I did.
“I just felt bad for them. I thought, ‘By God, what have they been going through here?’.
“You go from a feeling that you are invincible to suddenly you are all too aware of your own mortality. I’d get anxious.
“I spent a long time, as most people do in these situations, feeling a bit down.
“I’m absolutely over the moon that I’m still here but when I was sleeping, I was very, very worried. I’d wake up panicking.
“I’d always kept myself fit running 10km races and the odd half-marathon but it took about nine months to get my head round wanting to run again.
“I gained three stone in weight until one day I said ‘Right, that’s it. I want to run’.”
Steven’s now determined to prove himself by tackling the gruelling Edinburgh Marathon.
“I’d told myself that if I managed that, I’d sign up for the Edinburgh Marathon.
He said: “In November I grew a moustache for Movember and set myself a charity challenge of running three miles every day for the whole month.
“There were no ill effects so that was when I decided to go for it.
“My wife’s understandably still a bit paranoid. On long runs she follows me on her bike feeding me jelly babies and just checking I’m still alive.
“If you look at me, you’d think ‘There’s no way he’ll run to the end of the street let alone a marathon’.
“I describe myself as a ‘fit-fat’ guy.
“I’m the wrong shape to run — but I can run.
“I want to cross that Marathon finishing line thinking ‘That’s me, I’m back’.”
Steven said in a recent interview “I want to say ‘Thank you’ for all the help and support I’ve had. It sounds cheesy but without it all I wouldn’t still be here.
“I’m doing this for a cause but I’m also doing it for me. I need to prove to myself that I’m still physically able.
“My wife was worried when I told her I was planning to do the Edinburgh Marathon and my only goal is to finish it ALIVE.”
You can make a donation to the British Heart Foundation go to www.justgiving.com/owner-email/pleasesponsor/Steven-Mckillop
Story and photo’s Shared on DGWGO with Full Permissions from Callan Media
