Retired Bingo Hall Worker’s Life Saved by Teens

Teenagers are often portrayed in the media as wrong’uns out looking for trouble and to be fair, the vast majority of the time they are. However, a group of teenagers from Lancashire hit the headlines recently for an act of heroism – for saving a man’s life when other people walked on by! It was back in August when 66-year old retired bingo hall worker David Blomley collapsed in the street and thanks to the quick actions of the teens, he managed to recover after a lengthy 2-week spell in the hospital.

The recently retired Mr. Blomley had been out at a working men’s club earlier in the day when he started to feel unwell. Leaving the club, Mr. Blomley tried to make his way home but collapsed in the street in agony and started to vomit. Many people walked on by and assumed the man writhing in agony on the floor was the result of being intoxicated, but fortunately for Blomley, a handful of teens decided to help.

Stop, Look and Listen!

Local 15-year old’s Cayon Williams, Jobe Oldham, Marcus Morrison, Logan Jackson and 14-year old Joe Kirkham were on the way home from football training when they heard shouts for help. Instead of walking by like everyone else, they went over to help and dialed 999 instantly. Now, 4-months on, Mr. Blomley finally got to meet the lads who saved his life. Speaking to the local press, the man who’s recognised locally as the bingo man, said: “The boys were just brilliant, absolutely fantastic. They deserve some recognition.I could have died; a burst ulcer is serious. I was in the operating theatre the next morning after being taken to hospital.”

A stomach ulcer is life-threatening, and it’s estimated 1 in 10,000 people will die as a result of a peptic ulcer due to major bleeding. The quick-thinking actions of the lads undoubtedly saved a man’s life and not forgetting, back in August we were amidst a global pandemic and were urged to stay away from people, so what they did – putting themselves in danger is no less than heroic! He continued: “I just collapsed in agony, I was screaming help, I was in so much pain. It was 9.30pm and if they hadn’t come by, I don’t know what would have happened, because at that time there just would not have been anyone around.”

Once released from hospital…

…Mr. Blomley launched a campaign to find the boys who saved his life and finally, this week, he managed to track them down! One of the boys said he recalls exactly what happened and he’s glad to see he is doing so well. Joe said: “We saw a man on the floor and agreed we should go over to help him. He seemed in a bad way, so we focused on keeping him calm. One of the lads called for an ambulance and the rest of us kept him updated and just kept talking to him. It was a bit of a shock to see and other people walked on by, but we stayed with him to help him.”

Joe concluded with: “At the time, we were unsure as to what the issue was, but to hear the details and to know that he was recovering was amazing. There were a lot of older people who didn’t stop to help or stayed briefly before walking off. As far as we were concerned, this was a fellow human in pain. Who knows what the outcome would have been if we hadn’t stopped to help.”

Source: “Sixty-Six-Year Old Recently Retired Bingo Hall Worker Thanks Little Lever High School Pupil for Coming to His Aid When Others Would Not”. This is Lancashire. December 7, 2020.

Well done lads!