“Going through high school in Blairgowrie it was mostly rugby – a bit of mountain biking, some hiking – but mainly rugby,” recalls Hamish Bell.
“I was 12 when I started playing – it was my dad, who used to be a keen player, who encouraged me to get involved – and after going to a Scotland v Wales game I thought I’d give it a shot and played until I was 20.”
It wasn’t the intervention of study or work that curtailed his involvement in the game however. It was a completely unexpected and near-fatal cardiac arrest, on the Coupar Sports Ground pitch.
“In the summer they do a touch rugby event,” he continues. “Younger kids come along, and adults of all ages, you divide up into teams – something in the off season to keep you going. That’s where it happened – not a senior game, just training for fun – where I just fell down, having a cardiac arrest.”
It had just been a normal day for Hamish. Back home during his Uni holidays and working at the farm as he did each summer, he’d returned home, stuck his ‘lucky’ number four sticker on the side of his classic Mini and headed off to the club.
“I just remember turning up at training, putting my water bottle down, starting to play – then nothing,” he recalls. “Because it’s a community club, and Blairgowrie’s not a massive place and everyone knows each other, the players had messaged my partner and she rushed over, so she was able to tell me what happened after.
“A lot of the guys I played with are first responders, police, and one of the spectators was a dental nurse – so it was all these people who came together as a team when I needed it.”
Their quick thinking and CPR training saved Hamish’s life. Medics were unable to pinpoint what had caused the attack, so now Hamish has a S-ICD (Subcutaneous Implantable Cardioverter Defibrillator) fitted as a precaution which monitors heart rate and will give a shock, if required.
“I used to sleep on my left side but it’s like lying on a TV remote if I try to do that now,” says Hamish, of any other difference the device has made, “and you can see the outline of it under my skin.”
Not being able to play rugby any more was a harder adjustment, however.
“I hadn’t realised how much rugby and the club had meant to me, it was my routine, training twice a week, training with the Uni team then coming home to play for the club,” he states. “It took me a while to go back to the rugby club – not because of the traumatic event, more because of the realisation I couldn’t take part any more.”
His introduction to Hearts and Balls came via Scottish Rugby’s Head of Stakeholder Engagement, Graham Law, who had contacted Hamish regarding their First Responder online course launch last year and, this October, regarding the Restart a Heart campaign in conjunction with Hearts and Balls.
“I mentioned to him I was keen to get involved in a relevant charity – I’m currently planning to climb Scotland’s three highest peaks to raise funds – he suggested contacting Hearts and Balls and it grew from there.
“As ambassador I’m obviously keen to make sure there are more defibrillators available and if there’s a way I can help with that and more, for me to have a greater purpose, to do some good, I’m delighted,” he adds.
“I’ve always been the sort of person who’s fairly stoic – ‘It is what it is’, is what I always say. Before my incident I was doing bridge-jumping, cliff jumping, mountain biking – loads of things that are perceived to be dangerous. I don’t think it’s stopped me – the medics say the device I have shouldn’t limit me from doing activities – there’s just a few things to be cautious of when you’re doing them.”
He may be ascending the heights for charity but Hamish will soon be focussing on the depths in his new job.
“I’ve just started with an offshore company as a subsea technician – that’s been my dream job,” he enthuses. “We’re the biggest company in the world for supplying these subsea ROVs (remote operated vehicles), operated from a vessel or onshore. So I’ll be repairing and maintaining the equipment both onshore and offshore.”
It’s work which also requires certain medical certification but, as with everything else, Hamish has taken that in his stride.
“Yes, I’ll be going out to the rigs and boats,” he explains. “As soon as I left Uni I arranged an offshore medical, which I passed, but couldn’t get a certificate until I had a job and they could contact the relevant company to sign off. Now I have the job so that will come.”
And that is, indeed, what it is.
