Testimonial game for non-league footballer who helped save his young son’s life a few months ago

And Steve Ramsey is donating the money raised from Sunday’s match to a Portsmouth charity that has been a huge help to six-year-old Gerard.

Ramsey was a trainee at Portsmouth in the 2010s before going on to have an impressive non-league career with Havant & Waterlooville, Gosport Borough and AFC Portchester.

Nicknamed ‘Rambo’, he celebrated his 250th Portchester appearance towards the end of last season.

Back in June, he helped save Gerard’s life after finding the youngster unresponsive at his Portchester home.

‘Gerard was completely white, blue lips, no pulse,’ Ramsey recalled. ‘Luckily, I’ve been trained in CPR for a few years, doing an annual refresher course.

‘It’s something that should be mandatory, especially if you have kids.

‘My natural instincts just took over. We still don’t know what happened (for Gerard to become unresponsive).’

Ramsey performed CPR for several minutes before a medical team arrived in an ambulance to take Gerard to QA Hospital. There he was placed in a coma before being transferred to a hospital in Southampton, where he was in intensive care for five days.

Gerard, who has autism, spent weeks in hospital but is now back home - and amazing doctors with the speed of his recovery. After initially being in a wheelchair, he has now started walking and talking again.

Gerard is planning on returning to Cliffdale Primary Academy, in Portsmouth, in the next couple of weeks.

Since early January, the youngster has also been visiting Enable Ability, based in Copnor Road, an independent charity providing help and support to people with disabilities.

One of the charity’s team leaders, Ashlyn, even visited Gerard during his time in hospital.

‘Gerard’s getting better,’ Ramsey revealed. ‘He’s walking on his own now and starting to say single words. It’s a miracle basically.’

One of Ramsey’s former AFC Portchester colleagues, Joe Noakes, began a fundraising campaign in June to help pay for Gerard’s treatment.

Remarkably, within a matter of days, around £15,000 had been raised - and not just from those involved in the Portsmouth area football scene.

‘It’s been amazing the amount of support we’ve had,’ said Ramsey, who is now back at work as a self-employed groundworker after taking 10 weeks off to help care for Gerard. ‘It was as if the whole city got involved, people I don’t really know.’

Southampton FC star James Ward-Prowse, who was born in Portsmouth, was among those who donated, while many also supported an auction.

Because so much money was raised for Gerard’s treatment, Ramsey and his partner Georgina Lowton decided that cash raised from this coming Sunday’s testimonial game at AFC Portchester should go to the Enable Ability charity.

A ‘Rambo XI’ - made up of players Ramsey has played with during his career and managed by Mick Catlin - will take on a Pompey Charity Squad XI managed by Tony Male.

Gates open at 1.30pm at AFC Portchester’s OnSite Group Stadium with the game kicking off at 2.30pm.

Matt Taylor has confirmed he will be playing for the Pompey XI, while the likes of Sam Pearce, Brett Poate, Lee Bradbury, Shaun Gale and Dan Wooden will also be pulling on their boots for the Rambo XI.

There will be family attractions, plus raffles and auctions, as well as the football match. Admission is £5 with under-16s admitted free.

Ramsey, meanwhile, is planning to return to playing in the next few weeks after Gerard has settled back into school life.

*For further details about Enable Ability, visit https://enableability.org.uk/