A paramedic stabbed in the chest on a call-out has spoken after her attacker was jailed, saying: "I never once thought of leaving the job I love."
Deena Evans, 40, nearly died after a patient lunged at her with two knives, plunging one into her chest while slashing her with the other.
The mum-of-three, who now suffers post-traumatic stress disorder, told the Sunday People: "I have flashbacks of what happened.
"He is there. Whether I open or close my eyes, I see his face."
Deena and crewmate Michael Hipgrave, 51, were called to the home of Martyn Smith last July after his mother phoned 999 because he was not responding to her calls.
Two police officers who went with the paramedics removed a panel from Smith’s front door when he didn’t answer because they feared he might have collapsed.
But when Deena stepped inside, Smith lunged at her with eight-inch kitchen knives in each hand.
One blade punctured her left lung. Heroic crewmate Michael threw himself between Smith and Deena and took the second blade blow to his back before police Tasered the attacker.
Deena – who has appeared in the UKTV series Inside the Ambulance – says: "Michael’s wound lines up directly with my heart. If he hadn’t stepped in front of me, that second stab wound would have gone into my heart and killed me."
On Friday, Smith, 52, was jailed for nine years at Wolverhampton crown court after admitting two counts of wounding with intent.
Recalling the horrific attack at Smith’s Wolverhampton maisonette, Deena said: "You don’t feel like you’re being stabbed at all. I thought he pushed me as I felt myself being shoved but I didn’t feel a knife going into me.
"Then I looked down my T-shirt and saw a massive hole in my chest and the blood pumping out.
"I ran into the garden and collapsed and thought ‘Well, I’m going to die now. I’m bleeding out of my chest, I’m going to die.’ “It’s scary to lie on the grass and know that you’re effectively dying."
Michael also ran into the garden and threw a wheelie bin at crazed Smith before the police – who filmed the attack on their body cameras – Tasered him. Deena and Michael desperately called for help on their radios before three helicopters arrived.
Deena, a single parent, said: "I remember lying on the ground screaming down the radio.
"We worried we hadn’t been heard so we open-channelled it to everyone in the Black Country saying ‘Please, please, help him, I’m dying’.
"You’re taught in the job to save the wellest person first and then they can help the sick person, so I think that was going through both of our heads – save the other one first. I thought it was pointless two of us dying.
"I remember Michael saying I’m not leaving and then I was drifting in and out of consciousness.
"I thought of my kids – what will happen to them, where will they go, who is going to tell them?
"I thought of all the mum stuff I do and wondered who would do that bit for them."
Michael was released from hospital the same day but Deena spent three days recovering.
She had massive blood clot in her chest and was unable to use her left arm for three months due to severed nerves.
Deena, a paramedic for six years, said: “The PTSD can be crippling some days. It has been hard coming back to work and there are days where I think I can’t do this, but I’ve never once thought about leaving. Why should I let him win?
"Every single knock on a patient’s door, I worry it could happen again. You think the person behind the door could run at me – it took seconds to happen, and it could happen again.”
Smith had a depressive disorder with symptoms including anxiety and paranoia, the court heard. Following his attack, West Midlands Ambulance Service are to trial stab vests for paramedics next month.
Deena added: "Something good has come out of it, at least."
