Ex-West Brom star Carlton Palmer recalls brush with death

The ex-England international, who was born in Rowley Regis, was 20 minutes into a Masters football match between England and Germany in Singapore when he collapsed and was rushed to hospital.

He says his hands and legs were numb and through the haze of his garbled thoughts he could make out voices of alarm warning of an imminent cardiac arrest.

His heart-rate soared past 200 and failed to slow down.

"I was fighting for my life," said Palmer, recalling the incident last year. "I could feel the air leaving my body. My heart was pounding like it was trying to get out of my chest and it was getting worse.

"I'd always been quite flippant about death. When it comes, it comes, that was my attitude but now all the things I should have done were flashing through my mind.

"Someone was shouting, 'He's going to arrest,' and someone else was shouting: 'Quickly' and I was lying on the trolley with my arms and legs over the sides and I thought it was a stupid way to die."

Fortunately doctors were able to save Palmer after correcting his heartbeat with high-voltage shocks - although not before it had reached 220 beats per minute.

Heart specialists later found he had been born with a slight abnormality to the veins around his heart which could cause a flutter and atrial fibrillation, known as an AFib or an irregular heartbeat.

He underwent a five-hour operation, involving surgery through both groins to widen arteries near his heart.

The AFib could reoccur, but the 51-year-old has been told there is no reason to expect a problem. Now, 10 months after the operation, he is off all medication.

In his soon-to-be-released autobiography, It Is What It Is, Palmer says his brush with death gave him a new-found appreciation of life's fragility.

He also lifts the lid on his battles with alcohol.

But reflecting on his finest career achievement, he goes back to his early days at West Brom.

"When I was 12, all I wanted was to become a professional footballer," said Palmer.

"Looking back, there was never anything better than the feeling of running out at the Hawthorns for the first time and thinking I've actually done this. It was a dream come true."

Palmer, who now lives in China, spent five years at Albion before moving to Sheffield Wednesday. He later played for Leeds United, Southampton and Nottingham Forest.

He was given his first of 18 England caps by Graham Taylor in 1992, going on to play in the European Championship that year in Sweden. He scored his first and only goal against San Marino.