'I'm a very lucky man' says former Wolves director Kevin Threlfall

The remarkable recovery of the 65-year-old father of two, who was struck down by a cardiac arrest on the 6th tee of South Staffs Golf Club in Tettenhall on Wednesday of last week, has amazed family, friends and medics.

Fellow golfers Steve Woodward and Martin Knowles - both first aid trained former policeman - immediately started CPR after confirming he was not breathing and had no pulse as club shop manager Ian Guest grabbed its defibrillator and went to join the desperate battle to revive the casualty.

The trio's quick thinking stopped Mr Threlfall's brain from dying before ambulance crews reached the scene around ten minutes after he collapsed. The paramedics then tried for at least half an hour to revive him without success before finally getting a pulse as he was being taken by ambulance to New Cross Hospital. The next morning he was sitting up in bed and talking.

Mr Knowles, a 57-year-old retired police sergeant now working for the National Police Air Service, who was playing against Mr Threlfall in a match between South Staffs and Moseley golf clubs, explained: "I saw him bent over on the tee and asked if he was alright. He replied 'no, not really' and collapsed. I put him in the recovery position, could not find a pulse, called for help and immediately started giving him the kiss of life and compressing his chest. All the CPR training I had in the police just kicked in."

He was joined by South Staffs member Steve Woodward, 53, who retired from the police five years ago, and was playing in the match behind Mr Threlfall. The two men took it in turns to carry out the CPR while the club's defibrillator was deployed by Mr Guest.

Advanced paramedic Andy Watson, 49, and the first member of West Midland Ambulance Service to reach the scene, said: "Technically he was dead but the fact that he had been given CPR so quickly had stopped the brain dying and given us a fighting chance. Otherwise it could have been very different result."

He fed drugs and fluid through needles directly into Mr Threlfall's system while continuing CPR and using a defibrillator with the assistance from colleagues who arrived soon after him.

Mr Watson continued: "We continued this for around 45 minutes before it was decided to move him to hospital because there was no pulse. We got this on the way to hospital en route. It was a fantastic outcome for all concerned."

Mr Threlfall's wife of 37 years, Gill, - the couple live in Perton - reached the golf course while the ambulance staff were still working on him after being alerted to the drama. She recalled: "He was lying on the ground with his eyes half closed. I thought he was dead. I travelled with him in the ambulance. It seemed like an eternity when waiting there for news but it was more like 45 minutes before a doctor came and said it was touch and go. Others said things like he was holding his own and it was touch and go before finally telling me to go home because there would be no further developments that night. Early the next morning I got a call to say he was awake and talking. My daughter and I just burst into tears. Now he is back to being Kevin. It is an amazing story - I just wish it had happened to somebody else."

Mr Woodward from Perton confessed: "It feels surreal to see Kevin looking so fit and well just days after he was lying there stone cold, not breathing and without a pulse." The cardiac arrest was caused by a genetic condition similar to sudden death syndrome that had never stuck him before. He has now been fitted with an Implanted Cardioverter Defibrillator that gives him a 99 per cent chance of surviving a repeat incident.

Mr Threlfall, who started his Supercigs business empire with a cigarette kiosk at Wolverhampton Market in 1975 and sold a chain of over 1,200 off-licences and convenience stores to Tesco for £530 million, concluded: "I will be eternally grateful to everyone involved in saving my life. Without their experience and quick thinking I would definitely not be here today. Three miracles happened in one day. Firstly I was on the golf course near a defibrillator. Secondly I was playing gold against a trained CPR operative and thirdly the machine had only recently been delivered. I am a very, very lucky man who will never remember what happened to me that day because it was as if somebody had turned a switch off but, equally, never forget the people who saved my life."