Stanton woman thanks paramedics after partner suffers heart attack at their home

A woman from Stanton, near Bury St Edmunds, has thanked emergency services for their ‘amazing’ care after her partner suffered a heart attack at their home.

Tanya Smith, 40, had to think quickly when partner, James Hunter, 49, collapsed suddenly after experiencing tightness in his chest at around 9.40pm on Tuesday, April 12.

At first James thought that the symptoms he was experiencing was due to Covid, and asked Tanya for a lateral flow test, but things quickly took a turn for the worst.

Tanya said: "I walked around the side of the bed and took the Covid kit out of the draw and when I came back he looked at me, gripped his chest and that was it. He went."

Tanya dialled emergency services immediately, but when the call handler was unable to connect her to the ambulance service, panic began to set in as she started CPR on an unresponsive James.

Tanya remained on the line to the call handler and was surprised by a knock at the door from a young community responder volunteer and trainee paramedic. He said his name was Jack from Bardwell and that he had overheard her phone call and came to assist.

Within 40 minutes three ambulances and an air ambulance arrived, and James was taken by road to Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital where he was given a stent the following day to unblock the artery that caused the heart attack. He was released from hospital on the Thursday.

"I would love to say thank you to Jack - he was like our angel," she said. "And the paramedics were absolutely amazing - really attentive. We’re so lucky."

James, a HGV mechanic, does not remember much of the night, but is now resting at home and will undergo rehabilitation to get back into work.

He said: "I am grateful for Jack because it meant Tanya wasn’t alone and had support. And when I was in hospital all the paramedics came back and wished me luck. I was quite emotional by then. I couldn’t thank them enough for bringing me back."

On Tanya’s quick thinking he said: "I owe her my life. I owe her everything."

The couple had only just moved into their home two weeks before James became unwell. They plan to marry in August this year.