A young mother says she owes her life to her husband - after her heart stopped for 55 minutes.

Lisa Corke's husband Mick saved her after she fell ill at their home in New Road, Minster, soon after putting their children to bed.

It had been a normal day for the 23-year-old, who had been shopping at Bluewater with her nan.

She came home and had dinner before putting her daughters to bed.

Lisa and Mick then sat down for the evening and at about 8pm her words started to slur and she "just slumped forward".

Mick, 31, sprang into action, laid his wife on the floor and phoned 999.

He was told to put her into the recovery position, but when the operator listened to her breathing, he was told to start CPR immediately.

Mick did this until the ambulance arrived and they were working to try and stabilise Lisa at her home and all the way to Medway Maritime Hospital.

When she arrived in A&E, Lisa was put into a medically-induced coma to try to reduce the risk of brain damage.

Mum-of-two Lisa was in the coma for 36 hours and had another episode of her heart stopping two days later, but medics were able to bring it under control.

"It had just been a normal day – I wasn’t stressed or anything," she said. "I was clinically dead with no heart beat for 55 minutes – it doesn’t seem real to me.

"It's an odd feeling. I don’t have any memory of the Friday at all so it's not affected me as much as it has my family."

Lisa has been fitted with an implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD), which she describes as a small battery box with two wires going into the top and bottom chambers of her heart that will shock it if it stops or starts to beat irregularly.

Mick and Lisa Corke with daughters Ellie-Mae, three, and Amelie, seven-months

She will also have to take tablets every day for the rest of her life after her near-death experience on Friday, May 4.

"It’s always a worry and at the back of my mind now," she added.

"My whole life has changed and it’s really hard not being able to pick the girls up or bath them.

"It’s very unusual to survive an out of hospital cardiac arrest so it makes me feel very lucky.

"The doctors said Mick saved my life – it’s incredible to think how lucky I have been that he was there and didn’t go to pieces. Someone must be looking over us.

"I would like to thank everybody – the paramedics for not giving up – it’s a long time for someone to be down. Everyone was fantastic."

The family are planning to raise money for the charity CRY and will all be taking a two-hour CPR course through the British Heart Foundation.

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Hero dad Mick Corke has now been presented with the ITV Daybreak Superdad award.

Lisa had written to the show praising how he juggled his work as a self-employed carpenter with looking after the couple’s children, Ellie, three and Amelie, seven months, after she was taken ill.

She said: "Mick didn’t know anything about the award and he was completely shocked to receive it - but he’s really pleased about it."