Woman who almost died in Tesco café thanks strangers who saved her life

A woman almost died when her 'pulse stopped' after she was stung by a wasp in a Tesco café.

Sandra Day from Ivybridge, Plymouth, was having tea in Lee Mill on November 5 when she felt a "three-inch needle" prick her arm.

She knew something was wrong when her vision became blurry.

The 73-year-old passed out and was left with no pulse before she was saved by an off duty police officer and butcher at the scene.

Discussing the incident, she said: "We went shopping down Tesco, and had a cup of tea and sat on this little settee in the corner.

"As I sat down, I put my arm on the side of the settee, and I could feel what felt like a three-inch needle go into my arm. I instantly thought, 'Wow, what is that?'."When I looked back to see Ray, I couldn't see him, it was all blurry, and within a minute, I was gone. It was an allergic reaction to a wasp, and that's how quick it was."After passing out, Sandra says others who were there said she started to have a fit.She added: "Ray informed the manager who shut the café, two girls came over who checked my pulse, but it was gone."There was an off duty police officer who came over to help, and the Tesco staff put an announcement over their tannoy asking if anyone could do CPR and luckily, a butcher ran over.

'I couldn't speak or move my arms'"He'd only learnt CPR about 20 years ago but never got a chance to use it. So between the butcher, the police officer and the two girls, they performed CPR on me."

The group eventually managed to revive Sandra by using an EpiPen. When she was put in the ambulance, her son told paramedics to check her jumper which is when the wasp was found in her sleeve.She said: "At the time the paramedics were talking to me, I could hear them butI couldn't speak. I couldn't move my arms or anything.Despite being stung before and having a nasty reaction, Sandra says she was unaware she was allergic to the insect's sting.

She said: "I was stung about 20 years ago and I went to hospital because the swelling was quite bad.

"They gave me an injection but it wasn't an EpiPen, and they didn't tell me that Iwas allergic."

Sandra now has to stay indoors for six weeks whilst she finishes her recovery. However, her survival may not have been possible without the people who came to her aid.Thanking her saviours, she said: "I wanted to thank everybody, there were so many people involved. I also want to thank all the people in the café."I managed to speak to the off-duty police officer's partner who said they don't often get people praising them.

"But he said they do this all the time, not quite as severe as that, but they said for some reason my incident really stuck with them."That man on the butcher's counter must have gone through hell because he's never done that before.