Cardiac Arrest Survivor Tom Lockyer Champions CPR Training as EFL Highlights Vital Minute
Welsh footballer and cardiac arrest survivor Tom Lockyer has issued a powerful plea for football supporters nationwide to learn lifesaving cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR). His urgent call coincides with a significant symbolic gesture across the English Football League (EFL), where every match this weekend will see its kick-off delayed by precisely sixty seconds.
A Personal Battle with Cardiac Arrest
The 31-year-old defender, who earned 16 caps for Wales, has faced his own harrowing experiences with heart failure. In May 2023, Lockyer collapsed during Luton Town's Championship play-off final victory against Coventry City due to an atrial fibrillation, a condition that required surgical intervention before he was medically cleared to return to professional football.
Tragically, just seven months later, his heart stopped beating for nearly three full minutes during a Premier League fixture at Bournemouth's Vitality Stadium. His survival was attributed solely to the immediate administration of CPR and the use of a defibrillator by pitch-side medical staff. Lockyer made a remarkable return to competitive action last October, now playing for Bristol Rovers in League Two.
The 'Every Minute Matters' Campaign
This weekend, Bristol Rovers' match against Chesterfield is one of thirty-six EFL fixtures participating in the coordinated one-minute delay. This action is the centrepiece of the 'Every Minute Matters' campaign, a joint initiative launched in 2024 by Sky Bet and the British Heart Foundation (BHF) with the ambitious goal of training half a million people in CPR during February's Heart Month.
"It's done very deliberately to highlight that every minute matters after a cardiac arrest," Lockyer explained in an interview with the Press Association. "Every minute that passes without CPR and defibrillation, your chances of surviving decreases by 10 per cent. It's brilliant to raise awareness, it strikes up conversation, and, ultimately, it's going to help us get more people trained up in learning CPR."
He emphasised that the delayed starts are not merely for convenience. "There's no point everyone just taking an extra minute in bed. We're doing it for a reason. We want people learning CPR and once you've learned CPR we're asking people to show your heart on social media."
The 'Show Your Heart' Social Media Drive
The associated 'Show Your Heart' initiative encourages individuals who have completed the BHF's free, online RevivR training tool to post a photograph on social media forming a heart shape with their hands. This campaign has garnered support from numerous figures within the football community, amplifying its reach and message.
A Universal Call to Action
Lockyer delivered a stark and compelling message about the indiscriminate nature of cardiac arrest, drawing from his own experience as a professional athlete. "It's always 'it'll never happen to me'. I was the exact same. This can happen to absolutely anybody at any time. I was at the peak of my fitness. I've had people reach out with 18-month-old babies who've had one, so it doesn't discriminate."
He stressed the critical need for public preparedness, noting that approximately 80% of cardiac arrests occur in the home, often involving a family member or loved one. "You need to be able to step up in that situation and potentially save someone's life because the minute someone goes into cardiac arrest if you don't do anything, they're going to die. Regardless."
Lockyer framed learning CPR as the ultimate selfless act. "It's not for yourself. The most selfless thing you can do is learning CPR because you can't do CPR on yourself. You're doing it for your loved ones, you do it potentially for a stranger. You're doing it for someone else to give them a fighting chance at staying alive."
His final plea was direct and urgent: "What are you going to do? Are you just going to stand there and let them die, or you're going to have a go? But if you're going to have a go, would you rather have a go knowing what to do, or guessing what to do? I know which one I would choose."
