A FIT care home worker says he was in the right place at the right time when he suffered a massive heart attack followed by SIX cardiac arrests.

Gary Smith says he is lucky to be alive after two work colleagues and paramedics worked on him before he was rushed to hospital.

Gary, 54, collapsed at Brunelcare's Glastonbury Care Home, where he is the facilities manager, on October 30 after suddenly feeling unwell.

He said: "I felt fine when I got up and arrived at work.

"Everything was normal until about 10.30am, when I started to get chest pains. I thought it was indigestion, so I had a cup of coffee and sat down.

"The pain got quite bad. It felt like my chest was in a vice, so I made my way up to the manager's office."

There, deputy manager Tom Knauer and senior nurse Sony Kurian took over when he went into cardiac arrest until two ambulances and an air ambulance arrived shortly afterwards.

Gary suffered five further cardiac arrests while he was being blue lighted to Musgrove Park Hospital, in Taunton, where a stent was fitted after he was stabilised.

He is now on the road to recovery and hopes to return to work at the start of December.

"I never thought it was going to happen to me," said Gary.

"I'm fit for my age. My work is quite physical and I still play football.

"But I was lucky. I was in the right place at the right time. Thankfully Tom and Sony had the skills to save me. Without them I wouldn't be here.I can't thank them and the paramedics, nurses and doctors who saved me."

He said all workplaces should have access to defibrillators.

"Most of us don't know where the nearest one is," he added. "If there isn't someone with the expertise to save someone having a heart attack, it could be a very different outcome to mine.

"It was bad enough my colleagues seeing what happened to me. I keep saying it, but I was lucky to survive because of where I had my heart attack."