'I arrived in the Lake District for a holiday with my family... then everything got very scary'

A woman who suffered a heart attack when on a holiday in the Lake District with her family has spoken of her 'scary' ordeal.

Sarah Baines, a nurse from Hyde, had just arrived in Backbarrow, Ulswater in October last year when she suddenly started to feel unwell.

With the lift out of order, the 61-year-old began climbing the stairs to her apartment before being sick and falling onto the floor with chest and back pain.

READ MORE Murderer who killed his flatmate 'unfit' to face justice after taking 'unknown substance' in jail

Her brother William immediately called 999 and paramedics were at the scene within ten minutes. After carrying out an Electrocardiogram (ECG), it was confirmed that Sarah was suffering a heart attack.

Reliving the ordeal, Sarah said: "My brain just wasn’t accepting it. I kept asking how I could be having a heart attack. I am only 61; I work full time, and I go to the gym.

"I had been having back and shoulder pain for two weeks prior but put it down to a work injury and recent shoulder surgery. It was only when my top lip started twitching, and I got pins and needles in my jaw that I accepted that I had a heart attack.”

Sarah was rushed to Blackpool Victoria Hospital from the scene and given treatment. She had a stent fitted the same day and spent three days in hospital.

“The journey to the hospital was scary, but Rachel [the paramedic] explained everything to me and told me what would happen when we got there. I was quite agitated, and my pain was starting to creep up again, but Tim and Rachel were amazing; they kept reassuring me.

"My husband, who is registered blind, accompanied me on the ambulance, and they were so attentive to him as well, making sure he was ok and that he didn’t get lost in the