A WALTHAM Abbey man whose heart stopped beating while he was being rushed to hospital has been reunited with the “hero” paramedics who saved his life.

Leon Williams, 60, of Stonyshotts road, was just minutes from death after going into a massive cardiac arrest when ambulance workers Tim White and Darren Evans performed vital mouth-to-mouth and applied shocks from a defibrillator to bring him back to life.

Mr Williams was taken ill at home after reporting feeling a sharp pain in his chest, accompanied by a tingling sensation in his arms.

At the time, retired Mr Williams thought he was suffering from indigestion, but his wife Marion called an ambulance after a call to a doctor about his symptoms.

He said: “I didn't believe it to be a heart problem.

“But it was obvious things weren't too clever with me - I was very hot and shaking.”

Medics on the scene recognised he was suffering a heart attack, and set off to the newly opened Essex Cardiothoracic Centre at Basildon Hospital.

Despite the best efforts of the team, Mr Williams's condition worsened and went into cardiac arrest just before they reached the unit.

He recalled: "The last thing I remember was pulling into hospital and that was it. Then I remember a shock across my chest - I came to, then immediately went again.

“The next thing I remember was looking up and thinking 'what's all the panic?'”

Mr Williams was taken in for treatment on a blocked artery, but within three days he had been discharged and now, six weeks on, has made a full recovery.

He said: "I owe my life to Tim, he did bring me back. Everyone was brilliant."

But the ambulance staff themselves said it was all in a day's work.

Crew member Mr White said: "Leon seems to have made such a good recovery because of the excellent treatment given to him at the centre in Basildon.

“But to be honest, he is recovering from his ordeal not only of what happened to him but also the fact I gave him mouth to mouth during CPR," he joked.