A man who collapsed at home after his heart almost stopped has thanked the ambulance crew which helped save his life.

A build-up of potassium had caused Stuart Brown’s heart to slow and his body started to shut down.

He was later told that if it had taken another half hour to get to hospital he would have died.

Mr Brown, 76, was treated by crews from South East Coast Ambulance Service after falling unconscious at his house in Billingshurst, near Horsham.

When crew members Graham Orchard and Andy Richard arrived, Mr Brown had come round but when they tried to sit him up he lost consciousness again and they could not get a blood pressure reading for him.

Mr Orchard told how Mr Brown’s condition was deadly serious.

He said: “We immediately proceeded to do an electrocardiogram which showed a reading of 14, the slowest heartbeat I have so far come across in my experience.

“We both knew that Stuart was in a very serious condition and had to be transported to hospital urgently. “The problem was that his heart was so weak that moving him would be extremely risky and for certain cause Stuart to go into cardiac arrest.”

Specialist paramedic Ellie Helmore, who arrived shortly afterwards, injected Mr Brown with drugs to achieve a stable enough heart rate so he could be taken to Worthing Hospital.

Mr Brown had emergency surgery to fit a pacemaker and was allowed home four days later.

He recently visited ambulance staff to say thank you.

Mr Brown said: “I’m so grateful to everyone for saving my life and to meet the ambulance team has meant a lot to me.

“I will never forget these three amazing people.”