A recruiter taking part in a 10km run to raise money for charity had to undergo around 8 mins of resuscitation to restart his heart after he collapsed at the finish line.

Rob Cotton, a partner at Platinum Recruitment, has made a miraculous recovery since the incident near the Bournemouth Pier on 4 October. 

Cotton and 26 of his colleagues took part in the run, which was part of the Bournemouth Marathon Festival, to raise money for the Southampton Neo Natal Intensive Care Unit in support of a former colleague who lost her seven-week-old baby. 

Cotton, who hopes to be back at work full time in the next week or so, didn’t experience any problems during the run, which took him an hour and a half to complete. He told Recruiter: “I got to the end of the line and collapsed and that was pretty much all I remember.” 

Paul Sinclair, director of Platinum Recruitment, told Recruiter that an off-duty surgeon came to Cotton’s aid and began CPR [cardiopulmonary resuscitation] before the ambulance arrived and took him to Bournemouth General Hospital. 

Sinclair, who had completed the run earlier and was in a nearby restaurant when he was told about what had happened, said: “[Rob] held on to the barrier, fell back and his heart stopped. They put up a curtain around him. There was a passing surgeon came by and said ‘this is more serious than you think it is’. He put [Rob] on his back and started CPR.” After about 8 mins, Cotton started breathing again. 

Sinclair added: “[Rob] has got a great sense of humour and within hours that was starting to shine back through. He is back to normal self, albeit he is hooked up to an ECG monitor at the moment.”  

So far, the team of fundraisers have pulled in more than £5k for the Southampton Neo Natal Intensive Care Unit. And donations are still coming in. 

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