A heart attack victim made an impassioned plea for people to back the campaign to save Macclesfield’s A&E during an acceptance speech at the North East Cheshire Business Awards.

Nick Entwistle, 28, told the audience he would have died if it wasn’t for the A&E department at Macclesfield Hospital which cared for him when he had the attack last year.

He had a blood clot in a main artery from his heart and developed chest pain driving home to Macclesfield after playing football in Manchester.

Nick now wants to do all he can to save the department.

He called on business leaders to join the fight this week when he went on stage to collect the social media award for One Minute Briefs and Big Brand Ideas at Mere Golf Club. Nick told the guests how much the A&E meant to him and urged the audience to get behind the campaign.

Afterwards, Nick, a social media expert who lives on Catherine Street, Macclesfield, said: “I tweeted about how I would be dead if it wasn’t for Macclesfield A&E in response to the campaign.

“My best friend Adam Britton said that was really powerful and that a picture of me saying that on a billboard in Macclesfield would have a massive impact.

“We were discussing this at the awards and I was inspired to say something when I got on stage.

“I didn’t know what I was going to say but know how important it is, so it just came out.

“I wanted to show my personal connection to A&E and how we must fight for it.”

The firms landed the award after driving he NHS Lewisham choir to last year’s Christmas number one slot through an innovative digital marketing campaign. The campaign even earned a retweet from the single’s main rival for the top spot – Justin Bieber.

Now Nick is joining the Express in its bid to save the department by launching a major social media campaign to run alongside our own. He also says he can make a film about the issue.

Nick, creative director at Magnafi in Manchester, said: “It’s amazing what’s possible, we can promote the campaign and I have the Love Your NHS Twitter and Facebook accounts and contacts from our previous campaign.

“We can make great things happen with this campaign and who knows maybe get another Justin Bieber retweet.

“Macclesfield A&E saved my life. We can’t let this go.”

Business award winners – see pages 18-21