On Sunday, January 14th, Tottenham Hotspur and Danish midfielder Christian Eriksen was the victim of sudden cardiac arrest. Eriksen went into cardiac arrest during Denmark’s Euro 2020 opener against Finland. Club medical staff quickly rushed to his side and administered CPR but it wasn’t until they noticed his heart had stopped beating that they called for emergency support. An Automated External Defibrillator (AED) was immediately used by the medical team to shock Eriksen’s heart back into rhythm before he was taken by ambulance to the hospital where he is now stable.

Christian Eriksen “was gone” before being resuscitated from cardiac arrest, Denmark’s team doctor Morten Boesen said at a press conference Sunday.

“Well, what should I say? He was gone. And we did cardiac resuscitation and it was cardiac arrest. How close were we? I don’t know,” said Morten Boesen.

“We got him back after one ‘de-fib,’ so that is quite fast,” the team doctor added, referring to the defibrillator used to revive Eriksen. “The details…I am not a cardiologist, so the details about what happened have not been released.

A heart’s unnatural rhythm can be deadly and clinical death can happen very quickly without having an AED available as well as swift intervention by a first responder.

Christian Eriksen ‘in a good mood’ and ‘making jokes’ following cardiac arrest but wants answers from doctors, says his agent

Awareness about SCA and AED’s Saves Lives

People searching for ‘how to perform CPR‘ spiked after footballer Eriksen went into cardiac arrest during Denmark’s Euro 2020 opener against Finland.

Google searches for ‘how to do CPR’ surged 45 fold at 6pm on Saturday after the footballer collapsed on the pitch.

The British Heart Foundation (BHF) saw more than a 90% increase in traffic compared to the previous weekend. Its most popular pages were about cardiac arrests, how to perform CPR, and defibrillators.

On Saturday, the heart charity’s website appeared in 1,400% more Google searches than usual, as people searched for ‘CPR,’ ‘cardiac arrest’ and ‘defibrillator’.

On Sunday, the charity saw an even bigger rise, with a 2,000% increase in cardiac-related website traffic.

All of the surges in traffic relating to this high-profile case of SCA will have a positive effect on a large piece missing in the equation of lifesaving AED’s. Knowledge is power in this case and learning about how AED’s work and who can use an AED should have a positive impact on creating a safer world. In fact, since the date of the incident, our AED USA traffic is up 300% with steady sales of AED’s to people that this incident was the catalyst that triggered them to purchase this life-saving and easy-to-use device.

How Can SCA Happen to a Professional Athlete

That is the thing with SCA, it can happen to anyone. Most people assume that SCA only happens to individuals in poor health or the elderly. In fact, SCA can even happen to children and young adults and often during athletics. If a professional athlete at the peak of fitness can fall victim to this silent killer, it can happen to anyone.

It’s Not The First Incident

Saturday’s incident was reminiscent of Fabrice Muamba, the footballer who suffered a sudden cardiac arrest during Bolton’s FA Cup match in 2012. Muamba, a professional footballer for Bolton Wanderers in England, had to end his career prematurely.

“Please God,” Muamba tweeted following Eriksen’s collapse.

“All of our thoughts are with Christian Eriksen and his family,” Eriksen’s former club Tottenham tweeted, while his Inter Milan teammate Ashley Young wrote: “PLEASE BRO PLEASE.”

Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR)

The Life saving CPR technique is used to keep oxygenated blood flowing around the body by pressing on the chest and breathing into the mouth. CPR is done when someone has a heart attack, goes unconscious, or does not wake up from sleep.

In order to prevent sudden cardiac arrest in athletes, Denmark’s soccer association has introduced compulsory Pre-screening for players aged 15-35 years old for long QT syndrome, an electrical disorder that can lead to sudden death and often goes undetected without a specialized test.

The Precious 10 Minutes

The human body can’t function very long without oxygen. In fact, without oxygen, the cells in our body start to die within minutes.

The human brain is very sensitive to lack of oxygen and will begin shutting down after about a minute without receiving it. That’s why CPR or chest compressions are so important when someone collapses from sudden cardiac arrest. CPR can keep blood circulating through the heart and lifesaving oxygen throughout the body while the AED analyzes and shocks the victim if needed. For every minute that the victim is not resuscitated, the chance of survival decreases by ten percent.

Christian Eriksen’s Life

Christian Eriksen has been a professional football player since 2008. He’s played for Ajax and Tottenham Hotspur, with his career highlight being the 2013-2014 season when he scored 11 goals in 11 games. In 2014, Eriksen joined Tottenham and was named the club’s Player of the Year in his debut season. That same year he became the youngest player to represent Denmark at a World Cup.

In 2014, Christian Eriksen represented Denmark in their first FIFA World Cup. In the build-up to 2018’s FIFA World Cup, he played a key role during the nation’s qualification campaign.

Eriksen’s partner Sabrina Kvist Jensen was brought down towards the pitch after he collapsed from sudden arrhythmic death syndrome. Kvist who in December gave birth to their second child, a daughter – whose name has not been made public. They also have a son Alfred, who was born in June 2018.

The couple announced the birth of their second child on Instagram last year, in a post which said: ‘Family of 4 ❤️’. The post was liked more than 240,000 times. 

The Whole World Watched

This incident had a good outcome and as previously mentioned, better awareness about this silent killer and most importantly how quickly administering CPR and Defibrillation does increase the chances of survival of an SCA victim dramatically. Contact AED USA and we can assist you with purchasing a lifesaving AED today.