Former Newcastle Knights enforcer Tony Butterfield is lucky to be alive after suffering a heart attack moments after appearing in a charity match in the Hunter on Saturday.
As first reported by The Daily Telegraph, the 53-year-old went into cardiac arrest in the dressing room in front of stunned former team-mates.
Butterfield began vomiting after appearing in an Oz Tag game to raise funds for the Mark Hughes Foundation before suffering the massive heart attack.
Luckily, a paramedic doctor was on hand at No.2 Sportsground and managed to revive the premiership-winning prop with a defibrillator.
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He was then rushed to John Hunter hospital where he underwent emergency surgery and had a stent inserted to repair a blockage in his heart.
Butterfield told News Limited ‘everything just went dark’ and admitted he ‘really dodged a bullet’
The Penrith junior made his first-grade debut for the Panthers in 1985, playing five games for the Mountain Men before signing with the Knights as a foundation player in 1988.
He played 229 games for the Knights before retiring in 2000 as the club’s most capped player.
Legendary half-back Andrew Johns later surpassed his longtime team-mate’s mark.
Butterfield played a key role in the Knight’s 1997 grand final victory over Manly and also earned one Origin appearance for the NSW Blues in 1998.
