West Lothian dad's brush with death hopes to inspire others to follow their dreams

dailyrecord.co.uk:

The saying ‘live every day like it’s your last’ might sound like a cliché, but to one West Lothian man it has real meaning.Scott Fleming has pledged to do just that after his heart stopped with no warning while he was playing football in December 2004 and he had to be revived several times on the way to hospital.He later found out he had Wolff-Parkinson-Whyte Syndrome, which causes the heart to beat abnormally fast, and spent five days in a coma after the terrifying incident.But to make matters worse, damage caused to his throat during life-saving intubation meant he needed a tracheostomy – where an opening is created at the front of the neck so a tube can be inserted into the windpipe to help breathing – leaving him unable to speak for 14 months.Scott has since had several procedures to cure him of Wolff-Parkinson-White Syndrome and regain his voice and is fighting fit – something he proved by climbing Mount Kilimanjaro in 2009, just five years after he collapsed playing for his local team, Balbardie, in Torphichen.The 44 year old, who stays in Bathgate, is also studying for his black belt in Kuk Sool Won martial arts and has realised his ambition of becoming a successful author.And today (Thursday) Scott hopes to inspire others with his incredible story at an event organised by Craigshill charity SPARK.He will join cyclist Josh Quigley, presenter and mental health advocate Gail Porter, social media agency boss Sophie Robertson and Tony McCaffery, founder of Diversity Scotland at Why Not Me? – part of the charity’s inaugural Storytelling Festival.He told the Courier: “The mantra of having a second chance doesn’t really ring true with me as I’ve always been stubbornly determined and lived a full life even before December