A man whose heart stopped twice came face to face with the paramedic who saved his life and told him: 'Thank you very much.'

Richard Speare, 73, answered the door at his home in Bramerton, near Norwich, to paramedic, Phil Quinn on the morning of October 10, before suffering a heart attack.

The former retail manager said he had been felling unwell with pains in his chest and called 999.

When Mr Quinn arrived at the door, he asked Mr Speare who the patient was, as he looked healthy, but he later suffered a heart attack on the settee.

Mr Speare, who is now back to good health, said: 'He did an ECG scan and did not like it so he dialled for an ambulance.

'My wife, who had been out walking the dogs, came home and she was obviously shocked seeing the paramedic's vehicle. We calmed her down but I cardiac arrested while sitting on the settee.

'He immediately pulled me off the settee onto the floor and shocked me with a defibrillator. I came round and another paramedic arrived.

'But I arrested again and had to be shocked back to life again.

'I was taken to the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital, where I was transferred to the cardiology department.'

Mr Speare spent four days in hospital, where Mr Quinn came to see him to check on his progress. Yesterday Mr Quinn visited Mr Speare at his home.

Afterwards, the grateful Mr Speare said: 'I'm very lucky to be alive and Mr Quinn saved my life. What can you say to someone who saves your life? Just thank you very much.

'I suppose you could call it, right place, right time but Phil did brilliantly and my wife and I are so grateful to him for saving my life.

'I'm in very good health now and I don't really remember what happened. I felt hot and clammy and the next thing I woke up in hospital. Phil has been looking out for me ever since, even visiting me in the hospital.'

The modest paramedic, a 40-year-old father-of-two from Tasburgh, near Norwich, said it was all part of the job.

'I was just so pleased that he pulled though,' he said.

'It's great to have the opportunity to see him again, he's such a lovely guy.

'It's nice to see that you have made a difference. It's so rare to get somebody back from that kind of VF, ventricular fibrillation, cardiac arrest. In 15 years I have just got three back from several hundred.'

david.bale2@archant.co.uk