A healthy mum who “died” for half an hour after collapsing in her garden has been fitted with a heart starter like footballer Christian Eriksen.
Bryony Sahota, 33, went into cardiac arrest on June 8 – four days before the Danish star’s ordeal on the pitch during Euro 2020.
She was sitting on the grass chatting to husband Dale, 32, when she suddenly stopped breathing.
Terrified Dale phoned 999 and was told to start CPR. Local pub landlord Dave Sargeant, a first-aider, took over until medics arrived seven minutes later in Bloxwich, West Mids.
It was 20 more agonising minutes before Bryony breathed again and Dale was told to expect the worst.
But she recovered – although docs at Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham do not know why it happened to the fit vegetarian.
Now Bryony has been fitted with a matchbox-sized implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD).
The mum of three said: “It’s like I have a little doctor on board and means I can live a normal life. I’m just so grateful to be alive.”
Dale said: “The survival rate for people who have a cardiac arrest out of hospital is between five and 10 per cent, so it really is a miracle.
“I had just come off the phone to Bryony in hospital when my dad ran upstairs and said it’s just happened to Eriksen too.
"His eyes were open just like Bryony’s were and the look on his face was just the same. It was really hard to watch.”
The couple are now raising money to buy a defibrillator for Dave’s pub the Saddlers Arms.
Dale, who runs a fish and chip shop, added: “ Eriksen had a defibrillator used on him immediately and was revived within five minutes, whereas Bryony was gone for much longer, putting her at much greater risk of brain damage.
"We wanted to do something to give others the same fighting chance that Eriksen had.”
Dave, 57, said: “She had no pulse and I didn’t give her a hope. So when Dale and Bryony walked into my pub 11 days later with their kids I was so happy, I actually broke down in tears.
“I’d done my first-aid training 12 years ago when I was operations manager for a security company but it’s not something you forget.
"If someone has just a bit of first-aid training, it can save a life. It should be compulsory in schools.
“Dale and Bryony are such wonderful people and I’m just so happy Bryony came through.”
