'I returned to refereeing month after heart attack'

A non-league referee said players jokingly asked him whether he was "nuts" when he returned to refereeing less than five weeks after suffering a heart attack.

Stuart Nixon has been officiating for 12 years in the Sceptre Sunday Football League in Basildon, Essex.

The 54-year-old, who is vice-chairman of the Basildon Referees' Association, felt "pains like indigestion" over the summer, before being told in hospital that he suffered a severe heart attack.

Stuart said he wanted to keep improving his heart, and get back to the exercise and "banter" of the sport.

The local NHS trust said advances in treatment meant heart attack patients could return to activities "much sooner" than previously thought, so long as they followed the advice of medical professionals.

"I believe that getting back into refereeing has helped my heart and improved it," he said.

"Everyone was amazed, even down to some of the players, they're like 'what are you doing? Are you nuts'. Maybe!

"When you've been around for 12 years, people get to know you well. That's what keeps me in - fitness, exercise, banter."

Stuart recalled how he suffered indigestion pains and "sweats" over the summer, and that when he went into hospital on 1 July, medics "realised there was something wrong".

The normal heart ejection fraction - the amount of blood squeezed out of the main chamber with every heartbeat - is 50% or higher.

Stuart's was 25%.

"I thought 'that's bad'," he said. "Within 20 minutes, I was in the operating theatre."

He had a two-hour operation where a stent was put into his main artery and he was awake for the entire procedure.

"You just let them get on with it. Maybe I'm just a relaxed person."

Surgery went well, and he was placed in a recovery ward rather than intensive care. But he said he was told he had been "an hour away from being dead".

Stuart suffered more scares later that night, when he received CPR twice because of abnormal breathing.

"I was told I was out for four minutes," he recalled.

"The first time, I'm not sure what I thought - the second time, that was the worrying moment because it had happened again.

"How many more times was it going to happen? I stayed awake all night because you think 'I'm not going to wake up'."

Stuart was discharged from Basildon Hospital 11 days after surgery, and three weeks later, he officiated a 90-minute match.

"I'd watched some preseason games, walking around the pitch, and I just missed it," Stuart added.

An Essex GP told the BBC that patients could recover from heart attacks in as little as four weeks, but that at least six weeks was usually advised before high-intensity exercise.

Dr Syira Ahsan, based in Chigwell, cautioned that heart attack patients could be at higher risk of arrhythmia and angina.

"It needs medical clearance to go back that soon."

Stuart said he was told he could return to refereeing by heart specialists at Basildon Hospital.

Debbie Whitfield, lead nurse for cardiac rehab at the Mid and South Essex NHS Foundation Trust, said: "Advances in treatment and care can mean that many patients who have had severe heart issues can return to activities and hobbies much sooner than perhaps had been possible in the past.

"Patients are closely monitored, and advice is given on a patient-by-patient basis tailored to their individual situation, issues and recovery rate."

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