A MAN suffered two major heart attacks in an hour and lived to tell the tale.

Stephen Poole’s heart completely stopped twice even though he has no history of heart problems.

Mr Poole, 52, of Rowenhall, Laindon, had his first massive heart attack while working at the Co-op in Grays, before being resuscitated by colleagues and paramedics.

Then at Basildon Hospital his heart stopped again.

Mr Poole said he remembered very little between hitting the floor and waking up in hospital days later. The father-of-two’s eldest son, Anthony, 21, was at his side when he first collapsed.

He said: “I leaned into him and next thing I know I was in the hospital.

“My son told me I was on the floor, so they did the pushes on my chest and phoned the ambulance.

“By the time they got there my heart had stopped beating, so they got the guns out and fetched me back again.

“Just as we got to the hospital it stopped again, so out came those guns to restart me again.”

Anthony, who has a younger brother, Stuart, 18, said his father had experienced some chest pain earlier in the day, but brushed it off as nothing serious.

Anthony said: “He was claiming he had indigestion.

“He went to his knees and I asked him if he was all right, but he said it was just indigestion.”

Mr Poole then fell backwards into his son’s arms and began having a fit.

Anthony said: “I was holding him until someone came to help and phoned the paramedics.

“They put him on the machines and took him to the hospital. I was just wondering ‘is he still going to be alive?’.”

Anthony praised Basildon Hospital staff, who cared for Mr Poole for a week and a half.

He said: “The heart people were keeping us up to date and they had nurses at the end of his bed keeping 24-hour control. They were really helpful the whole time.”

Mr Poole is recovering after a couple of days at home.

He said: “I’m getting there slowly, but it’s not something to get over overnight.”