I was ‘dead for 17 minutes’ when heart op went went wrong – docs wanted to turn off life support but I pulled through

A FOOTBALLER who died for 17 minutes when a heart op went wrong has pulled through and got engaged. 

Brooklyn Peakman, 20, proposed to girlfriend Ellie Spencer, 18, before a life-saving transplant “in case his new heart didn’t love her”. 

The goalkeeper was left in a coma after dying twice during a 19-hour operation to replace his faulty heart valve last year. 

He survived – despite his family being told the chances were slim – and came out of the coma at Christmas.

But he needed an urgent heart transplant, the reported.

Brooklyn, of Prestatyn, Denbighshire, said: “After they told me I needed a new heart, I told Ellie we’d better get engaged – just in case my new heart didn’t love her.

“It turns out my new heart loves her as much as the old one.

“I can’t wait to see her walk down the aisle and call her my wife. It’ll be a day I didn’t think I’d get to see.”

Two life-saving operations were cancelled and he finally got his new heart on St. Patrick’s Day, and nicknamed it Paddy.

He proposed after the first failed attempt.  

Ellie said: “He smiled when I said yes, I think it relaxed him. He was quite anxious after coming so close to death.

“I wanted him to go down for his transplant knowing how much I loved him. My focus for now is getting him fully recovered.”