A mother and daughter are being praised for saving a footy umpire’s llfe after he suffered a cardiac arrest during a match.
Rachel and Georgia Ploegsma, who are both registered nurses, came to the rescue of 68-year-old John Bonfadini.
The veteran umpire had collapsed in the midst of the Round 7 seniors match between Coldstream and Silvan in a local Victorian competition.
Georgia, the daughter of Rachel Ploegsma, was at the game to watch her partner and Coldstream captain Darcy Fritsch play.
She then leaped into action and attempted to come to Bonfadini’s aid, after being urged on by her boyfriend.
‘I was looking and had my leg over the fence ready to go, and then I heard … Darcy screaming ‘Georgia, quick, come onto the ground’,’ Georgia told News Corp.
Rachel and Georgia Ploegsma (pictured) are being credited for saving a footy umpire’s life
John Bonfadini, 68 (pictured) suffered a cardiac arrest during a local footy match
The umpire will now undergo a triple heart bypass surgery (pictured, a man with chest pain)
‘I just jumped the fence, I had slides on and couldn’t run so I kicked them off, chucked my can away and ran straight out to the middle,’ Georgia continued.
Her mother Rachel, who was also in attendance for the match, joined her daughter in trying to save the umpire.
‘When I got to the middle my mum was there, she was on the other side of the field and heard someone call out for a defib so she ran out too,’ Georgia added.
‘We got to the middle at the same time, looked at each other and were like, ‘sh**, we need to do something here’.
‘All the trainers were there trying to get a response out of him, I looked at him straight away and knew that he was not good.
‘He was blue, not breathing, mum tried to find a pulse and couldn’t, we just looked at each other and were like ‘nup, we need to do this’.
Georgia has since also spoken publicly about her experience administering CPR.
‘I started CPR on him and mum was doing mouth to mouth, and then the defib got brought out to us,’ she said.
‘I didn’t even remember what was going on around me, I was just working so hard to save someone’s life and when he took that break it was ‘thank god’.’
The experienced umpire is set to undergo triple heart bypass surgery, before being able to return to his passions of umpiring, golf and the gym once he has recovered.
‘Once the pipes are clean and they’ve done the bypass I won’t have a problem and I’ll be back umpiring and doing everything normal within 12 weeks…’ Bonfadini said.
‘One of the positives is it made a lot of people aware that you can be very fit, however not know what’s happening inside.
