A mother who suffered a cardiac arrest while staying on a barge has visited Medway Ambulance Station to say thank you to the people who saved her life.

Diane Savage and her husband David, were visiting their daughter Johanne and their son-in-law at the barge moored at Castle View Marina in Strood when Mrs Savage suddenly collapsed.

She had a clot in one of her arteries which was stopping blood reaching her lungs. Within minutes of the 999 call, technicians Darren Jensen and Adrian Roberts arrived and began to assess the 68-year-old.

Paramedic Michael Fothergill then arrived and called South East Coast Ambulance Service’s Hazardous Area Response Team (Hart) from Ashford.

More support arrived but Mrs Savage suffered a cardiac arrest. Crews started CPR, but, due to the cramped conditions, her family had to wait on the barge’s deck while the crew battled to save her life.

Critical care paramedic Dave Hawkins then arrived and was able to give Mrs Savage blood- thinning drugs and set up a machine to give her automatic chest compressions, so the crews could focus on getting her off the barge.

Johanne said: “The crews had done an amazing job giving mum CPR and were exhausted.”

The crews worked for just under an hour to stabilise Mrs Savage while the Hart team planned to get her off the boat.

'I am just so thankful to be able to be here to thank them all' - Diane Savage

Team leader Al Crawford and his team, Karen Simons, Nick Walker, Sean Simmonds and Alex Clark, had to remove a window to stretcher her, secured by ropes, up a plank to the bank while monitoring her condition.

Mrs Savage, from Bermondsey, was then taken to Medway Maritime Hospital where she spent a week in an induced coma to speed up her recovery.

“I am just so thankful to be able to be here to thank them all,” Mrs Savage said. “They saved my life. I don’t remember much after collapsing and then waking up in hospital three days later but Johanne said they all worked so hard to get me back and just wouldn’t give up.

“I just knew I had to be out by the end of the week to attend my eldest son’s funeral which was on the Monday and they gave me that chance.”