Carlos Antonio Aranda, head of the Acute Care Unit at the Badajoz University Hospital, ran across the lawn to attend to the patient who suffered a heart attack at the Cádiz-Barcelona
An Extremaduran cardiologist who spends this weekend in Cádiz is the doctor who focused on him the cameras that followed the Cádiz-Barcelona football match this Saturday after a fan who followed the match from the South Fund suffered a heart attack which forced the meeting to stop.
The casual protagonist of this event is Carlos Antonio Aranda López, head of the Acute Cardiological Care Unit of the University Hospital of Badajoz. Born in Mérida 36 years ago, since 2015 he has directed the service that tries to help the most seriously ill patients.
Carlos Antonio was passing the Extremadura Day bridge in Conil de la Frontera (Cádiz), where his brother lives, a circumstance he took advantage of to go to the capital and see the team he is a fan of, Fútbol Club Barcelona.
It was that circumstance that made it possible for him to be in the stands of the stadium when a fan suffered a sudden heart attack. “At first it was not very clear what was happening because it could be fainting due to fainting, but when I saw that they were resuscitating him, I understood that this man’s problem was cardiac.”
Carlos Antonio was at that moment in the box near Hugo Vaca, a Cádiz player from the 1980s who coincidentally is the father of the field delegate of this team. “I told him that he could lend a hand, Hugo Vaca spoke with his son on the phone and they quickly helped me get to the place where he was being treated.”
That is the reason why the head of the acute care unit at the Badajoz University Hospital appeared for a few seconds on the television broadcast of the match. He is seen running across the field in the direction of the South Fund.
«When I arrived at that place, the Red Cross team was attending to the patient, also the doctor from Cádiz and an older doctor. They were doing it perfectly and I tried to help with my knowledge », he explains.
Carlos Antonio recognizes that his daily work consists of helping patients with acute heart problems who have suffered a heart attack or arrhythmia, so he knows perfectly the protocols that must be followed. «I told them that they should administer Amiodarone, a drug that is used in this type of situation. I also joined the resuscitation maneuvers and about 20 minutes later we managed to get my pulse back ».
A medical team also participated in these medical care that urgently traveled to the Cádiz stadium with a more powerful defibrillator than the one used in the first moments. “The first defibrillator that was used is the one in the locker room tunnel, it is the one that is seen throwing goalkeeper Aranda into the stands.”
«The fact that resuscitation maneuvers were started quickly had an influence. Really all the people who participated did it phenomenally, “says Dr. Aranda before assessing the excellent behavior of the referee.
“I was not really influenced by the fact that there were thousands of people watching what was happening and a lot of people watching through television. At that moment you don’t realize it, really when you think about it is when everything is over.
From what they have told him, the fan he attended on Saturday was admitted to the hospital, where they performed a catheterization to open his artery. He now remains in the Intensive Care Unit but Carlos Antonio is confident that he can get ahead. “Most of the patients who arrive at the hospital alive manage to overcome it, hopefully that is the case.”
At the moment, this cardiologist born in Mérida and stationed in Badajoz for twelve years is still in Cádiz, but this Monday he will return to his position as head of the Acute Cardiological Care Unit of the Badajoz University Hospital, a responsibility he has held for seven years. “There is a friend who has always told me that the only fault I have is that I am from Barcelona, but yesterday he called me to tell me that this time it has served to save a life.”
