A RUNCORN dad has been hailed a hero after saving the life of his son - with techniques he’d seen on TV.

Eric Robinson heard a thud and discovered his 27-year-old son, Robert collapsed on his bedroom floor after suffering a cardiac arrest.

Grandad Eric, aged 63, immediately flew into action and managed to keep him alive.

He’s never been to a first aid class and simply used cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) procedures he’d watched emergency crews perform on television.

Dad-of-four Eric, of Millersdale Grove, Beechwood, said: “When I went in, he was taking his last breath, what I call a ‘death breath’. I’d heard it before when my mother and my wife’s mother died.

“I lay him flat on the floor and started CPR.

“I knew I just had to keep on going, feeding the brain with oxygen, just pumping and pumping and pumping.

“I’m always getting shouted at for watching rapid response and real emergency programmes.

“I just picked it up from there.”

Eric continued with CPR for 15 minutes and worked with paramedics until Robert was stable enough to be taken to hospital.

He added: “It is hard work but you just go into automatic pilot. It was only afterwards that it hit me.

“Robert is a young, fit, healthy lad. This happened a week after his 27th birthday.”

Robert, a physics teacher, suffered another cardiac arrest at Warrington Hospital and was in a coma for 36 hours.

He was transferred to the Liverpool Chest and Heart Hospital where he had a personal defibrillator fitted.

This will reactivate his heart if it stops again.

Robert , a physics teacher at Birchwood High School in Warrington, returns to work on Monday.

He said: "I feel absolutely fine. I have been fitted with an icd plantable electrocardiogram pacemaker which keeps my heart at the right pace.

"It was strange being told that your heart went a bit funny.

"I owe my dad my life. "

Specialists suspect he may have Long QT Syndrome and the whole family is now being tested.

His brother, Gary ran the Liverpool Marathon and raised £1,000 to thank staff at the critical care unit in Warrington Hospital for looking after him.

Dad-of-three Gary, aged 38, director of a recruitment business, from Needham Close, Runcorn, said: “We are so grateful to the nurses and doctors. The marathon was hard work but it was the least I could do to show my appreciation to the medical team who saved my brother’s life.

“Specialists said dad’s CPR kept him alive.

“He’s an old fashioned dad. He knows how to fix cars, do electric repairs, DIY and save lives.”

DHL staff at the B&Q warehouse in Preston Brook, where Eric works as a warehouse operative, and Gary’s colleagues at Cast UK, supported the family’s fundraising.

They presented the money on Saturday towards a £40,000 portable eco cardiogram.

Anyone wishing to make a donation can e-mail garyrobinson@castuk.com.

Robert has two other brothers, Steven, aged 35, who serves in the army medical corps, and Lee, aged 30, a primary school teacher.