A special ceremony in memory of a hero doctor who saved golf legend Bernard Gallacher’s life takes place tomorrow.
Mark Bloch, 48, restarted Mr Gallacher’s heart twice after the Ryder Cup captain suffered a cardiac arrest during an after-dinner speech in Aberdeen last year.
The doctor died suddenly on October 18 at the house in Aberdeen that he shared with wife Vannin and daughters Ella, 9, and seven-year-old Hannah.
A special celebration of the medic’s life is to take place at the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service’s North HQ in Aberdeen tomorrow following a private burial.
Scottish Fire and Rescue Service Aberdeenshire and Moray area manager David Rout, who is to lead the service, said that hundreds of people across Scotland owed their life to the trauma specialist.
Mr Rout said: “Mark was not just a colleague – he was a friend. He was exemplary in his work in trauma care.
“Any serious trauma in the north east of Scotland – Mark was at the forefront of the response.
“He held his colleagues in the emergency services in high esteem and he was highly regarded.
“He would go out of his way to save lives. He was one in a million.”
More than one hundred close friends and respected colleagues from across the emergency services and medical fraternity are expected to pay their respects to the late medic tomorrow.
Mr Gallacher also paid tribute to the Zimbabwe-born consultant anaesthetist following his tragic passing.
He said: “I will always be grateful for him being there. He saved my life, and the lives of so many other people, and this is a great loss – not just to his family, but to the wider community”