MARK McLAUGHLIN
Evening News (Edinburgh)
July 6, 2010, Tuesday
A YOUNG father has been left fighting for his life after suffering a heart attack when he was pulled from his burning flat by firefighters.
Colin Juner, 27, had to be resuscitated by paramedics after being rescued from the blaze.
Mr Juner, known as Coco to friends, is now understood to be in an induced coma at the Edinburgh Royal Infirmary.
He suffered severe smoke inhalation in the fire, which is thought to have broken out in the kitchen of his flat on South Street, Dalkeith, at around 8am on Sunday.
He was resuscitated on the way to hospital after suffering a cardiac arrest, and ambulance crews said he was conscious and breathing when he arrived at hospital.
Mr Juner is a regular at the nearby Buccleuch Pub, where he is well known to the bar staff.
Friend Tracy Lennon, who works at the bar, said: "He's in hospital in an induced coma at the moment. The hospital said they were going to put him under for three days and see if he improves, but he was in a pretty bad way.
"Everyone in the pub knows him well. He's a nice guy who would do anything for you.
"He was a handyman who could turn his hand to anything, and would take work wherever he could find it.
"We hope he's going to be all right."
Friends said Mr Juner has a three-year-old son, Leon, with his ex-partner Jayde Orme. He is a former pupil of St David's High.
On his Facebook page, Mr Juner said he "lives for the weekends" and loves spending time with his son, who he describes as "my number one".
Friends posted messages of support on his site yesterday.
Cassie Fuller said: "Please pull yourself through Coco. Get better soon."
Mr Juner's flat sits above the Riccio Gallery, an art and picture framing store, which was slightly damaged in the fire.
A spokesman for the gallery said: "He's a nice guy to chat to. I don't know him too well but I know his son comes and stays with him on a fairly regular basis.
"It's extremely fortunate that his son wasn't staying with him that night.
"There wasn't a great deal of damage to the gallery, just a bit of water damage that seeped through from the flat above but it could have been worse."
An ambulance spokeswoman said: "The man was rescued from the property with severe smoke inhalation and had gone into cardiac arrest as a result.
"The crew managed to precipitate the patient on route to the Edinburgh Royal Infirmary.
"This obviously is quite unusual to get that as a result of a fire, especially at that age, although we don't know how long he was exposed to the smoke."
Police said the cause of the fire was not suspicious.
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