A SALE woman who almost died, has been back to Tesco to visit the staff that saved her life.

In October 64-year-old, Wendy Taylor fell to the floor while shopping on her own in Tesco, Sale, where she suffered cardiac arrest.

Staff in the store immediately raised the alarm and carried out first aid including CPR and the first ever use of the defibrillator.

Ben Armitage from the store, used the defib.

He said: "I have never used a defibrillator before, nor had anyone else in the store but we knew that Mrs Taylor was really poorly and there was nothing that we could do that could make her any worse - all we kept thinking was 'when are the paramedics going to get here?'"

Carol Dyson, Lynda Baker and Phoebe Hooson raised the first alarm and called 999 and Kym Jones and Laura Hamilton carried out CRP on Mrs Taylor for 21 minutes, while on the phone to paramedics before they arrived.

Kym said: "None of us have ever had to deal with anything like this, it was a surreal moment and it didn't really hit us what had happened until later - all we wanted was for Mrs Taylor to be okay, and until we got the phone call the following Sunday to tell us that she was fine it's all we had thought about.

"None of us are fully first aid trained, we managed to do what we did, as a team by what we had seen on adverts on TV and through the help of the paramedics on the phone."

Kym and Laura both followed Mrs Taylor to Wythenshawe Hospital and waited there with her until her family arrived.

Mrs Taylor returned home on November 8 with an internal defibrillator.

Mr Taylor said: "I can't remember any of the event, not even parking my car on the car park.

"I have no words for the staff here - there is nothing I can say or do that would be thank you enough."

Her daughter, Amanda Taylor, met the staff at the hospital. She said: "It was a massive shock. My mum is usually really fit and healthy, and the cause is still unknown.

"What can you even buy or say to someone that has saved your mum's life? I can't stop saying thank you. Everyone knows a bit about first aid, but you never think you will have to put it into practice - this incident shows how important it is for all public places to have a defib as part of their first aid."

Staff at Wythenshawe hospital contacted the store after the incident to praise the staff.

Julie Ward, senior cardiac nurse at the British Heart Foundation, said: “Wendy’s story is a perfect example of the lifesaving power of CPR and defibrillators. When someone collapses following a cardiac arrest, every second is vital.

“Performing CPR and using a defibrillator can double a person’s chance of survival, so they really can be the difference between life and death.”