POLICE press officer Graham Chivers has fought back to full health after a brain haemorrhage which doctors predicted would kill him.

He is back at work at police headquarters, in Devizes, six months after collapsing on the touchline during his son's school football match.

He says he remembers walking along the touchline at the start of the game in Bradford on Avon on December 16 and nothing else until he woke up in Frenchay Hospital, Bristol, six weeks later.

A blood vessel in his brain had ruptured and the bleeding had been made worse because he was on the blood-thinning drug warfarin to combat a deep vein thrombosis in his leg.

His wife Jan said: "Because of the effect of the warfarin the bleeding wouldn't stop. That's what made it as serious as it was."

Mr Chivers, 51, was given mouth-to-mouth resuscitation by rugby coaches until the ambulance arrived.

Then his 12-year-old son Jonathan explained to the paramedics about his medical history.

Mrs Chivers said: "Jonathan was brilliant. He stayed cool, calm and collected through the whole thing, although he must have been terrified."

Mr Chivers was taken to the Royal United Hospital, in Bath, where doctors told his wife he had a five per cent chance of survival.

"At that point I started to resign myself to Graham's death," Mrs Chivers said. "I asked if I should fetch our daughter Kirsten, and they said 'yes.'"

Mr Chivers served for 30 years with Wiltsire Police before becoming a civilian press officer and, as word of his condition spread, a number of police officers gathered at the RUH, including Mr Chivers' boss, Superintendent Gary Ogden.

"I am convinced that Graham would be dead if it was not for them being there," said Mrs Chivers.

"I may be doing the staff a disservice, but I feel they would have given him up for dead and got on with the next case."

Mr Chivers was transferred to Frenchay Hospital, which has a unit specialising in brain injuries.

Here, his chances of survival were put at 70/30 and Mr Chivers' consultant began talking about what would happen in three months' time.

Mr Chivers remained in a coma for the next five weeks. His wife said that period was hell but she was still determined to celebrate Christmas and was up until 1am dressing the tree.

"Jonathan was 12 and Kirsten 11," she said. "They are still children and Christmas is important to them."

And on Christmas Day Mr Chivers opened his eyes.

"That was probably worse for the kids than seeing their dad asleep,"Mrs Chivers said. "We had no idea whether he would recover his speech or how badly he would be affected."

Mr Chivers had already undergone ground-breaking surgery with the insertion of a tiny coil into the vein at the site of the rupture. Later, a tube was inserted into his brain to drain blood and excess brain fluid away. From that point, his recovery accelerated.

Mrs Chivers and Jonathan were taken aback when he suddenly answered one of their questions with an emphatic nod of the head.

Later he seemed to wince and when a nurse asked him if he had a pain he pointed to his wife.

Mr Chivers returned to the RUH and from there was sent home but suffered a deep vein thrombosis and was re-admitted after which he and his wife discussed arrangements for his funeral. But, on her birthday, February 21, Mr Chivers came home for good.

"The media have been brilliant," he said. "The messages we have had from them gave Jan and the kids so much support when things were really bad."

But his real praise is reserved for his colleagues in the police.

"I cannot thank them enough. Without their support I don't know if the family would have got through it," he said.

"I'm lucky to be alive, but I'm even luckier to have such a wonderful family and great mates."