East of England ambulance paramedic treating heart patient has heart attack himself

• Paramedic Jeremy Williams spoke to ITV News Anglia's Sophie Wiggins

An emergency responder was saved by his colleagues after he had a heart attack - while trying to treat a woman in cardiac arrest.

Senior emergency medical technician Jeremy Williams, 53, was resuscitating a 30-year-old woman at her home in Stewartby in Bedfordshire, when he felt "excruciating" pain.

His teammates at the East of England Ambulance Service realised what was happening and while some continued to shock the woman, others carried out an ECG on Mr Williams and discovered he was having a heart attack.

The crews managed to get them both to separate hospitals where Mr Williams underwent emergency surgery to have two stents fitted to unblock the arteries around his heart.

Both he and the original patient are now making full recoveries.

Mr Williams, who is based in Kempston, told ITV News Anglia that he remembered thinking he would have to fight for his life.

"In a matter of probably four minutes I went from feeling a little unwell, to feeling very, very unwell.

"I felt like I was dying."

"'I've got to survive'," he told himself. "I've got a 12-year-old son. I don't really want to be leaving him, so my [thought] was 'I've got to survive this'.

"Obviously, with such a supportive team around me, I'm forever indebted to them for keeping me alive."

Shaun Whittington, an advanced paramedic in urgent care, described the shift as one he would never forget.

"I've been in this job for 22 years and have never heard of anything like this happening before, and really hope it never happens again," he said.

"The fact that Jeremy and the patient have both recovered is a testament to the skills and dedication of the team on scene on the day, who worked together brilliantly to manage two very challenging incidents."

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