A man has hailed a mum-of-two for her lifesaving heroics after he suddenly collapsed at a County Durham bus stop.

Mark Nesham, 59, said he was stunned by the heroics of mum-of-two, Natasha Smith, 26, after he collapsed at the Churchill House bus stop in Newton Aycliffe last Monday.

Mark, from Newton Aycliffe, said he remembers going shopping and talking to a friend at the bus stop on his way home, before waking up on the floor to an ambulance crew.

He said he felt completely out of it, and remembers how Natasha placed him in the recovery position and called the ambulance service.

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When describing the ordeal and Natasha's actions, he said: "I feel very grateful because if I had been at the bus stop by myself, who knows what would have happened.

"My AF [atrial fibrillation] played up and affected my heart rate. That's what caused me to pass out on Monday.

"She had a young child in a pushchair, and she stayed with me and missed her bus till the ambulance crew turned up.

"I mean, I did the easy bit, I just laid on the ground, she did all the hard work. 

"If I had been at the bus stop by myself, I might not be here."

Meanwhile, Mr Nesham said he had sent Natasha flowers to thank her for 'saving' him after a friend of his provided her address.

He said he could not answer any of the paramedics' questions as the event had left him unable to hear at the time.

Mr Nesham said the ambulance crew believed he had been unconscious for close to 15 minutes by the time they arrived.

When recounting the incident, Nathasha, mother-of-two, also based in Newton Aycliffe, described how her previous experience as a carer helped her notice something was wrong.

"I've never met him before in my life, I've never even seen him. I was standing at the bus stop, clearly right place, right time.

"My brain kind of just clicked and went into auto. Something in my gut was saying something's not right here.

"He seemed a bit dazed, I thought maybe he's just daydreaming, but then all of a sudden, the woman that was standing next to him shouted 'help!'

She said she recognised Mark had not been placed in the correct recovery position, and from what she could see his foot and nose had turned purple.

She said she immediately rang the ambulance and asked two nearby girls to watch over her eight-month-old son while she helped Mark.

 "I tried to talk to Mark but he was non-responsive, his eyes were open but there was just no communication" she added.

"It was terrifying. I can only imagine [if] he was there by himself with no one around him, how it could have ended instead.

"What went through my head at the time was, if that was my dad or my granddad, I hope someone would do the same for them."

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She said she was worried Mark could have possibly suffered a heart attack or stroke, and was relieved when she learned he was okay.

Meanwhile, Ms Smith praised the "terrific" response of ambulance crews who appeared on the scene very quickly.

After receiving the flowers sent by Mark, she said the gesture nearly made her cry.

Mr Nesham said he has been suffering from heart problems and Covid-19, and was only discharged from hospital in February after spending 50 days in ITU in an induced coma.

He said during his stay his heart rate reached levels over 200bpm and he suffered from sepsis, while his family were called in twice because doctors were not sure he would make it.

Since then, he has returned home from Darlington Memorial Hospital and recovered from the ordeal.

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