'My heart stopped for 17 minutes'

Without a heart transplant, new mum and keen gym goer Victoria Thomas had just months to live. Here, she tells us about her path back to fitness

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When Victoria Thomas collapsed in the gym during an early morning boot camp, her heart stopped for 17 minutes.

Paramedics feared they would not be able to save her, as they fought to bring the normally fit and healthy 35-year-old woman back to life.

Now 41, Victoria recalls how she started to feel exhausted after a weightlifting session.

She explained: "I said to my friend that I didn't feel like I had any power or energy, like it had just drained from my body. I was also feeling slightly dizzy.

"I'd only just said it when I suddenly collapsed on the floor." The ambulance arrived within minutes and paramedics started CPR but, despite their best efforts, they feared Victoria's heart had stopped for good.

She recalled: "They never gave up on me.

The minutes ticked by, but they refused to stop trying. I was young, fit and healthy and it had come completely out of the blue. Everything went black, and there was nothing.

"Then I became aware of looking down on my body. I was floating near the ceiling and was looking down at myself on the gym floor.

"My first thought was that my legs looked really fat and, when I saw a photo of myself taken just minutes before I collapsed, I could see that my legs were actually swollen.

"I didn't see a light, or feel peaceful, I was just watching myself, and I could see some yellow machines around me." Eventually after 17 minutes - Victoria's heart restarted and she was taken to Bristol Royal Infirmary, where she spent three days in a coma.

She pulled through, and doctors fitted her with a defibrillator, which would restart her heart if she suffered another cardiac arrest.