Young Northampton mother meets crew who saved her life

Ashleigh Loach, who was reunited with the paramedics who treated her initially, was placed in an induced coma twice

A young mother who had a cardiac arrest aged 29 has had an emotional reunion with the crew who saved her life.

Ashleigh Loach's husband initially performed CPR on her when she stopped breathing at her home in Northampton in October 2018.

An ambulance crew took over, stabilised her and took her to hospital, but she was not expected to survive.

Ms Loach, now 34, said she wanted the crew to know how grateful she was and she was "still here".

Ashleigh Loach's husband and mother joined her for the reunion with the ambulance crew

Ashleigh thought her tiredness, heart palpitations and dizziness were something to do with her Crohn's disease and recent pregnancy.

However after a "rare" night out with her husband Dave, they had just gone to bed when she stopped breathing.

Mr Loach said: "I was on the phone to 999 - the lady was so clear and precise.

"I had to get Ashleigh off the bed and performed CPR for what felt like 20 minutes, but it was actually six."

The paramedics arrived six minutes after the 999 call and used a defibrillator to get Ms Loach's heart back into the right rhythm.

She was taken to Northampton General Hospital and transferred within an hour to Kettering General, but she was not expected to survive.

'Funeral to organise'

Her mother Jackie Hunt was on holiday in the Galapagos Islands in the Pacific when the message came through about the cardiac arrest.

She said: "The people that we'd travelled with got us back within 24 hours because we were told we'd got a funeral to organise."

Ms Loach was put into an induced coma twice and remembers waking up with her mother holding her hand.

Six years on, the family has finally met the ambulance crew.

Ms Hunt said: "Today has been lovely, to be able to put a face to the people who saved our daughter's life."

Ian French, a paramedic based at Daventry, said it was the first time he had attended a reunion with a survivor.

"It's really nice when there is a positive outcome to see the impact it's made long-term - it's really satisfying," he said.

Paramedics Ian French and Matt Flounders and technician Scott Lovett were part of the team that saved Ms Loach

Six years on, Ashleigh Loach is doing well although she can no longer be as independent as she wants to be.

"I just wanted the paramedics to know how grateful I am that they came to me and I'm still here because of them and their work, the call operator who helped Dave and the staff in the two hospitals I was at," she said.

"They were all fantastic.

"I am still here to watch my daughters Pippa and Paisley grow up."

Ashleigh Loach said she wanted to tell the crew how grateful she was that she was "still here"