A MAN who collapsed in the street with a heart attack wants to thank the woman who saved his life.

Restaurant manager Gianfranco Gelardi had been visiting Brighton from Basingstoke with his husband Roger Prada when he suddenly fell to the floor.

They had been on the i360 and were walking along the seafront when disaster struck.

Gianfranco said: “I suddenly started to see white. Then everything went black and I don’t remember a thing. I had a cardiac arrest and collapsed on the ground. Roger called for help. Apparently I changed colour– my body was purple and my eyes were completely white. He gave me mouth to mouth and then a woman stopped and gave me CPR. Another man called an ambulance, and it arrived in less than ten minutes.

“Paramedics gave me more CPR and put pads on my chest to give me an electric shock. After half an hour, my heart started beating again. I woke up in the Royal Sussex County hospital that evening.

“I felt like I’d come back from another planet. When I opened my eyes, everything was black and white.

“I couldn’t focus, and I couldn’t lift my head from the pillow. I was on a drip and my body was covered in wires connected to monitors.

“I only heard sounds – there were doctors and nurses talking, but they were like the voices of angels.

“Then I saw Roger. His face looked so scared – he couldn’t believe what had happened.

“I couldn’t believe I was alive either. I almost feel like crying. I still can’t believe it. I want to say thank you to the woman who brought me back to life. I want to take her for a coffee and let her know she’s the reason I’m still alive.”

In the heat of the moment, neither Gianfranco nor Roger got the chance to thank her, and neither remembers what she looked like.

Gianfranco is now recovering. After collapsing on January 29, he was given two months off work.

He says he still thinks about what could have happened if nobody had come to the rescue.

“I often think about what would have happened to the people close to me if I had died”, he said.

Gianfranco would like to thank everyone who helped him: the woman who gave him CPR, the man who called the ambulance, the paramedics and emergency services, and the staff at the Royal Sussex’s Cardiac Care Unit.

If you helped Gianfranco, or know who did, you can contact The Argus at news@theargus.co.uk.