A ‘fit and healthy’ woman who lay dead on the floor of her local gym after suffering a cardiac arrest has shared her near death experience.
Victoria Thomas, now 41, collapsed while taking part in a bootcamp class and was technically dead for 17 minutes.
But while many people who ‘cross over’ to the other side and come back share stories of feeling peaceful and seeing a tunnel of bright, soothing light, Ms Thomas tells a totally different tale.
She told the Mirror: ‘When it happened, it went black and there was nothing, then I became aware of looking down on my body.
‘I was floating near the roof and was looking down at myself on the gym floor. My first thought was that my legs looked really fat.’
But rather than this being a strange hallucination, it actually adds weight to Ms Thomas’ out of body experience.
She added: ‘When I looked at a photo of myself taken just minutes before I collapsed, I could see that my legs were actually swollen.
‘I didn’t see a light, or feel peaceful, I was just watching myself, and I could see some yellow machines around me.’
Victoria Thomas was working out at the gym when she suffered a cardiac arrest
There was no warning that Ms Thomas was about to fall ill, apart from a general feeling of malaise which she shared with a friend.
She said: ‘I said to my friend that I didn’t feel like I had any power or energy, like it had just drained from my body.
‘I was also feeling slightly dizzy. I’d only just said it when I suddenly collapsed on the floor.’
Staff tried to revive her but to no avail, and within minutes paramedics arrived at the gym and began working on restarting her heart, a process which took 17 minutes.
‘They never gave up on me. The minutes ticked by, but they refused to stop trying,’ she said.
‘I was so young, fit and healthy and it had come completely out of the blue.’
Ms Thomas was rushed to Bristol Royal Infirmary, where she spent three days in a coma and was fitted with a defibrillator to restart her heart in the event her body went into cardiac arrest again—and it did.
In the following months, her heart stopped several times, only to be promptly kicked back into rhythm, including when she was back on the court playing netball.
Ms Thomas was fitted with a defibrillator after she died for 17 minutes (stock image)
She said: ‘I went back to playing netball three weeks after it happened, with my defibrillator.
‘It was a shock whenever it went off, but it allowed me to carry on living my normal life, which I was so grateful for.’
In February 2021, Ms Thomas discovered that she was pregnant, which put her heart under more strain.
At the 24-weeks mark, Ms Thomas discovered the root cause of her heart issues was a rare genetic disorder, which came as a huge surprise as her family doesn’t have a history of heart disease, or any sort of heart problems.
Specialists diagnosed her as having Danon disease, a rare genetic disorder which affects less than a million people worldwide.
It is caused by a problem with the LAMP 2 gene, which produces an enzyme that is responsible for a process that keeps cells clean and healthy.
Incredibly, life expectancy for people living with the disease is 19 for men and 24 for women.
Tests revealed that neither Tommy, now three, nor Victoria’s other relatives have Danon disease, much to her relief.
Cardiac arrest is different to a heart attack (stock image)
‘When I read the letter from the genetics team telling me what I had, I was 24 weeks pregnant with Tommy and I was so shocked, I couldn’t take it in.
‘The doctors wanted to deliver Tommy at just 24 weeks, but I persuaded them to let me hang on a few more weeks. If he had been born at 24 weeks then he may not have survived.
‘But by the time I was 30 weeks I couldn’t breathe properly because of the fluid build up around my body, so I had to have an emergency caesarean.’
Pregnancy wasn’t the only cause of strain on Ms Thomas’ body, motherhood also took its toll—just six months after giving birth, she struggled to get up the stairs.
In April 2022, a hospital check-up found her heart was functioning at just 11 per cent, which is categorised as end-of-life heart failure.
She said: ‘I asked the doctors how long I had left and they told me I had just another couple of months.
‘It was devastating. All I could think of was Tommy. I vowed I wouldn’t leave him.’
The distraught new mum was placed on the urgent donor register and forced to remain in hospital, counting down the minutes until her sisters brought her baby to the ward for cuddles.
She recalled: ‘I would cuddle him and cherish every moment I had with him.
‘Time was running out for me, and I had to pray that they were going to find me a heart in time. Two hearts were found – but further tests revealed they weren’t suitable.’
Victoria, who now lives in Gloucester, says: ‘It was devastating. Each time I’d get my hopes up thinking this was it, that I was going to be saved.
‘And then I was told that the operation couldn’t go ahead. I didn’t know if they were ever going to find a heart in time. I’d given up all hope.’
Thankfully in April 2023 a suitable, and usable, heart was found and after undergoing a transplant at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham, she was allowed home in May.
She is now back to full strength, playing netball four times a week, and she is due to compete in both volleyball and basketball at the World Transplant Games in Germany next month—and remains grateful to her donor and their family.
She said: ‘I’d been in hospital since Tommy’s first birthday in October and now I was finally home with him. I couldn’t believe it.
‘I’m spending time as a mum with my son and I’m back playing the sport that I love. I feel like I’ve been given a second chance at life, and to be a mum.
‘It’s the greatest gift I could ever have asked for.’