Cardiac arrest survivor back to playing pickleball

A man who suffered a cardiac arrest while playing pickleball has returned to the sport three months on.

Martin Paxton collapsed while playing a league match at Guernsey Table Tennis Centre in June 2026.

It took 18 minutes, two injections and three defibrillator shocks to restart his heart, according to those who helped save him.

"I was gone, so no heartbeat and no breathing, that was it, I was literally dead," he said.

Recalling the match, Martin said: "We were winning and then apparently I just collapsed.

"I don't remember it at all and maybe it was five days later that I saw my wife's face in the ICU in Southampton."

His wife Linda had been at home watching the World Cup with their four children when two police officers turned up on their doorstep to rush them to hospital.

"When we finally saw him with all his tubes and monitors he was in an induced coma," she said.

"Every time he woke up I had to tell him again that he was in hospital and he'd had a cardiac arrest."

Martin said he was lucky to be surrounded by people who could help.

His playing partner Claire Duquemin is a former paediatric nurse, while referee Ian Vaudin had first aid training. There was also a doctor on the next court.

Vaudin said: "I think we'd both thought Martin was having a bit of a laugh like he normally does and he'd just fallen to the floor."

Duquemin added: "He sort of just sat down and laid on his back like a snow angel."

However, it soon became clear he was not breathing and they started CPR.

Both were amazed to see Martin looking so well now and they encouraged others in a similar situation to help.

After several weeks of recovery in England, Martin was fitted with a pacemaker before being flown back to Guernsey and transferred to the Princess Elizabeth Hospital by the same paramedic who had helped restart his heart.

Remembering welcoming him back home, paramedic Ben Barling said: "He's very lucky to have such a good recovery, to see him walking off the plane and shaking his hand was incredible."

Martin has some short-term memory problems but otherwise felt well, he said.

"It's sort of surreal, almost like it didn't happen because we're back to normal and back to playing the sports," he said.

Without the quick actions of those around them, he knows he would not be alive today.

"Every now and then I just think of someone's kindness and I just cry; have a little sob in the shower," he said.

"I think there's a lot of crying to come out because it was awful."

He said he had met with many of the people involved in his resuscitation to thank them in person.

"I think sometimes in emergency services they do the job and don't always see the result two months later," he said.

"I wanted them to see I was fit and I was well and their hard work at the time has brought a good result."

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