Carl Ward

A Reading Football Club employee whose quick thinking and determination helped save his colleague’s life has been nominated for the Local Hero award, sponsored by Green Park.

Carl Ward has been recognised for the award by the very person who, thanks to his extraordinary actions, is still alive today.

After collapsing suddenly at work, Carl “without any formal medical training, immediately started CPR and kept going until paramedics arrived.”

Alone and faced with a life-threatening emergency, Carl performed continuous CPR for more than 10 minutes before the emergency services reached the scene. The nominator believes that without that immediate intervention, they would not have survived.

“Carl later told me he was never going to give up, no matter how physically tired he became,” they added.

After they were taken to hospital, Carl returned to his normal duties, something the nominator described as “a testament to his can-do attitude”.

The nominator is now recovering well and is working towards returning to a normal life with the support of an Implantable Cardioverter Defibrillator (ICD).

Carl’s actions that day embody the English Football League’s ‘Every Minute Matters’ campaign, which raises awareness of the importance of immediate CPR during a cardiac arrest.

“Because of Carl, I am one of the small percentage of people who survive an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest without brain damage or other permanent injuries,” the nominator said. “He didn’t just help me; he helped my family keep me.”