A cricket fan has returned to the ground where he suffered a near fatal cardiac arrest to thank the first aider who saved his life.

David Tomlinson, 61, from Nottingham, was queuing at Trent Bridge to watch Trent Rockets take on Northern Superchargers in The Hundred on 10 August 2025 when he collapsed.

First aider Hayley Spencer immediately started CPR on David before his heart was restarted with a defibrillator by paramedics at the scene.

Exactly a year on, David returned to the Nottinghamshire cricket ground during a 157-mile fundraising walk for the British Heart Foundation.

"When you put somebody's life in your hands or more to the point when you put your life in somebody else's hands, it's something special," David said.

David's heart was restarted another two times, once in the ambulance and again as he arrived at Nottingham City Hospital.

He needed a triple bypass and has since been fitted with an ICD device which uses electrical pulses to make his heart beat normally.

David said he had counted 176 people who cared for him at the ground and in the NHS and is determined to thank them.

"The team here and the paramedics here have given me back my life and I'm honour-bound to do something with it," he said.

David is walking from Birmingham to London to raise money for the British Heart Foundation.

He started at the West Midlands offices of QA, the technology training company he works for on Monday and is due to finish at its London headquarters on 21 August.

David admits he is feeling "some trepidation" but is determined to finish.

"Having your life saved by somebody gives you a sense of not just a responsibility to them but, more widely, a responsibility to live a good life because she's given you it back," he said.

"I think he's slightly crazy," said Hayley.

"He's determined and it just shows you, no matter what, even if you've died and had a bypass, you can still do something."

She said saving David was "an honour and a privilege" and she is "so proud of him".

"I'm so grateful I was there and thankful that he made it to the gate before he died and I had the opportunity to bring him back," Hayley added.

David said he had already reached his fundraising target of £2,000 and hoped to highlight the importance of learning CPR to the people he meets on the walk.

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