A LAMPETER woman believes the quick thinking of a St John Ambulance volunteer saved her from suffering a possibly fatal heart attack.

Ellen Bretland, 65, was attending the Camfan charity’s drop-in centre in the town when her heart started racing and she began to feel unwell.

Her symptoms were spotted by concerned Camfan volunteer Emma Wood, a member of the Lampeter division of St John Ambulance, who immediately went to her aid and insisted she went to the town’s doctors’ surgery.

Following tests, Ellen was subsequently taken by ambulance to Bronglais Hospital where doctors said she would probably have suffered a heart attack had it not been for Emma’s swift intervention.

“If Emma hadn’t been so insistent on me seeing a doctor I probably would have just left it and the worst could have happened,” Ellen, who lives at Cribyn, told the Cambrian News.

“We’re so lucky to have her working at Camfan.

“I started having these heart palpitations, like my heart was having butterflies, and wasn’t feeling too good at all. When a doctor told me at the surgery that he was calling an ambulance I just couldn’t believe what was happening to me. At Bronglais they found that my pulse was going at around 178 beats per minute – it was a horrible experience and I spent three days there.

“Thankfully, I’ve since been put on a course of tablets and I’m feeling so much better now. I consider myself to have been very lucky.”

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