THERE can be no good time to suffer a heart attack, but when Fay Watt suddenly collapsed, she at least could not have been in a better place.
The 64-year-old had been feeling ill all day but had still reported to the Edinburgh Royal Infirmary for her night shift in ward 101 of the acute stroke unit.
After 35 years as an auxiliary nurse at the hospital she might have recognised the sympt
oms of heart problems, but she put the pains down to indigestion and attempted to grin and bear it.
However, three hours into her shift the pain became so great that she decided to take a break.
Ms Watt, from Dalkeith, said: "I went into the pantry and leaned over the sink. I thought it was heartburn. I don't know what happened next. When I woke up I was in a high-dependency unit."
She had been unconscious when her friends and colleagues rushed to her aid.
Auxiliary nurse Moira Bennett, and staff nurses Lynn Stephen and Betty Manoj discovered Ms Watt collapsed by the sink. They fought to resuscitate her and at one point Ms Watt was technically dead, only to be brought back to life.
Ms Stephen said: "She (Fay) had complained of shoulder pain and then went away to go and have a drink of water and Moira Bennett said 'She doesn't look very well, go and check her out'.
"I went and knocked on the door but she didn't respond, so we had to break the door down.
"That's when we found Fay unconscious. We tried to resuscitate her, then the crash team arrived. Her heart had stopped when we found her. It is difficult to say how long she was dead for, everything happened so fast. When we managed to get her back she was a bit delirious.
"We just wanted her back, she's our colleague and friend, some of us had known her for quite some time. We were very upset but we just had to realise we had to get on with our jobs and try to help her.
"It was all within half an hour to 40 minutes. Everything was kind of a blur. When she came to it was very teary. We just kept telling her she was going to get better."
Ms Watt said: "When I finally came to, staff nurse Margaret Forsythe was standing at my bed. I said: 'What are you doing in my house, Margaret?'
"She said: 'I'm not in your house', and then told me what had happened. I could not believe it.
"She said: 'You arrested and died and then came back to life again.' All the girls were standing at the bed. They were in tears.
"I had thought it was heartburn when it was actually a heart attack, I could not believe it, but I was glad I came to work. If I'd been at home I would have died."
Ms Watt is now at home recovering and is deciding whether she wants to return to work. However, she has been in to the ERI to present her life-saving colleagues with a bouquet of flowers.
Ms Watt said: "I can't thank them enough. Every time I see them I just burst into tears."
Ms Forsythe paid tribute to the trio, saying: "It must have been really tough for them, knowing they were dealing with a friend."
The full article contains 582 words and appears in Edinburgh Evening News newspaper.
