A SAINTS fan has praised the Hampshire professor who helped save his life.

When grandad Jeffrey Wilde collapsed after watching his beloved Southampton Football Club on the first day of the season, his family were warned he may not live through the night.

But under the care of Southampton General Hospital’s Professor Cliff Shearman, the 69-year-old pulled through and just six months later is back to full fitness.

To say thank you for saving his life, Mr Wilde has nominated Professor Shearman, a consultant vascular surgeon, for the Daily Echo’s Hospital Heroes Award.

The father-of-two collapsed outside the Inferno Bar in Bevois Valley after enjoying a pint with his nephew following the Saints match against Sunderland.

When he got to hospital his family were told that he had an abdominal aortic aneurism – which if bursts can be fatal – but fortunately for Mr Wilde his symptoms appeared while it was leaking, giving medics time to save him.

Mr Wilde, from Highfield, said: “I probably shouldn’t have survived the night but he got me through it. He was amazing, as were all of his staff.”

Daily Echo readers could nominate anyone employed by the trust which runs Southampton General Hospital, the Princess Anne Hospital and Countess Mountbatten House, as well as some services at the Royal South Hants Hospital. Nominations have now closed Professor Shearman said: “I am really humbled by the nomination.

“It is a real privilege as a doctor and part of that team to see a patient leave hospital who, without treatment, would have died.”