PHILIP Peacock had a stroke of luck when he collapsed in the salad aisle of Sainsbury’s and stopped breathing.

He started fitting and went blue but just a few footsteps away was off-duty cardiac nurse Jessica Webb and her swift actions were last night credited with saving the 53-year-old’s life.

On Saturday, the father-of-two was reunited with his saviour as they both pondered the odds of Miss Webb – who had only popped into the Kidlington supermarket to buy a toaster – being so close at hand.

Mr Peacock, from Stonesfield, said: “It was a totally normal day, I was just on my way home from work and thought I would pop into the supermarket to buy some stuff for the weekend.

“But when I was shopping, my vision started to go funny and the last thing I remember is thinking ‘I should be at the cashdesk already’. Then I woke up in an ambulance.”

Mr Peacock had hit his head hard on the floor.

Miss Webb, who works at the Oxford Heart Centre at the John Radcliffe Hospital, said: “I was shopping with my boyfriend Paul when we saw this guy clutching his chest and screaming.

“He fell to the floor and looked like he was fitting. And then he went blue, so I knew he wasn't breathing.”

As her boyfriend rang for an ambulance, Miss Webb checked for a pulse and started chest compressions to get Mr Peacock’s heart going again.

She said: “After 17 or so compressions, he began to make gurgling noises from his mouth and we could tell he had started breathing.”

She then put him in the recovery position and waited for the ambulance.

Mr Peacock was later told that because he was resuscitated so quickly, it increased his chance of survival and decreased any chance of permanent injury.

He is now home again, to the relief of daughters Olivia, 15, and Isobel, 11, and taking some time off from his job as the director of a design agency.

He said: “I was about to die. But Jessica saved my life.

“What are the chances of having a problem with your heart right next to a nurse from a cardiac ward?”

Miss Webb, from Kidlington, said: “I think it was fate because we never shop at that time. It was even a last minute decision to go down that aisle.”

Mr Peacock said: “I can never express just how thankful I am.”

  • IF A person is not breathing normally after an accident you should call for an ambulance and then, if you are able to, start cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) immediately.

CPR is a combination of rescue breaths and chest compressions to keep blood and oxygen circulating in the body. Place your hands on the centre of the person’s chest and, with the heel of your hand, press down (4-5cm) at a steady rate, slightly faster than one compression a second. After every 30 chest compressions, give two breaths.

Pinch the person’s nose. Seal your mouth over their mouth and blow steadily and firmly into their mouth. Check that their chest rises. Give two rescue breaths, each more than one second.

Continue with cycles of 30 chest compressions and two rescue breaths until they begin to recover or emergency help arrives.

  • Miss Webb is training for the 2011 London Marathon to raise money for the Oxford Heart Centre. To donate, click on the link to her fundraising page below.