A BARRY man who had a heart attack after diagnosing himself with indigestion has given his backing to a campaign aiming to teach CPR to the nation.

Fifty nine-year-old Alex Fisher was feeling unwell when he decided to walk to his back door and get some fresh air. Shortly afterwards his wife Irene found him ashen-faced in the kitchen, calling 999 after carrying him to the bathroom.

NHS clinical team leader and paramedic, Steve Magee arrived minutes later.

Mr Fisher said he remembered very little of the incident.

He said: “I can recall the pain I was in at the time, and I can remember Steve the paramedic talking me through everything he was doing and explaining it all. "After the cardiac arrest hit me I can only remember waking up in hospital and Irene telling me I’d had a massive heart attack.

“The paramedics Steve, Terry (Bowsher) and Mike (Stevenson) were great. If it wasn’t for them I wouldn’t be here today.

"Steve did two minutes of CPR on me before shocking me and that’s why I’m so supportive of the Restart a Heart Day campaign.

"It’s so important that everyone has basic life-saving skills. It’s vital that youngsters learn CPR.

“The NHS in general tends to get a lot of criticism these days, but my experience from ambulance crew to the staff at UHW has been fantastic and I’ll be forever grateful to them.”

Restart a Heart Day takes place on Tuesday, October 18 when, along with The British Heart Foundation, British Red Cross, St John Ambulance and Yorkshire Ambulance Service, the Resuscitation Council (UK) will be working to help train as many children and young people as possible to learn how to save a life.

For more information visit www.resus.org.uk/events/rsah2016/