LAURA Summers did not even have the chance to tell her colleague she felt unwell before she collapsed without a pulse.

The 32-year-old cover supervisor at Sandown Bay Academy was doing her usual rounds of the school field when she suffered from a sudden and unexpected cardiac arrest.

Were if not for the quick reaction of the school's staff, access to a nearby defibrillator and the fast response from the Isle of Wight Ambulance Service, it is likely Laura would have died.

"There were so many chances for me not to have made it," said Laura.

"If my colleagues hadn't acted so quickly and St Mary's staff weren't so amazing, I would have left two kids, Seb, nine, and Leo, seven, and a husband (Adam) behind."

Hospital staff told Laura that at the time of the incident, she had a two per cent chance of survival.

Laura, of Lake, was a happy, fit and healthy mum who had taken an exam and worked at the school that day.

"The doctors still have no idea why or how this happened to me. I had a little bit of a cold, nothing out the ordinary, before my heart just stopped," she said.

Staff at Sandown Bay started emergency CPR, rang 999 and used the school defibrillator to shock Laura twice.

Because Laura's heart had stopped for nearly three minutes, which deprived her body and brain of oxygen, once at St Mary's she was placed in an induced coma for nearly three days.

"It's very bizarre to hear about it all now. It's almost like it happened to someone else," she said.

"I am in absolute awe of what my colleagues did for me. You don't realise what a strong community you are part of until you experience something like this.

"Staff were in the road clearing the way for the ambulance, my colleague Andy Gibson gave me mouth-to-mouth resuscitation despite the vomit all over me and Tracey-Ann Mitchell worked tirelessly giving me CPR."

Laura was transferred to Queen Alexandra Hospital, Portsmouth, to have a pacemaker fitted and is now awaiting an MRI and a genealogy study.

To her delight, she was out of hospital eight days after her cardiac arrest — just in time for her eldest child's ninth birthday.

Laura said her colleagues continued to be incredible throughout her recovery.

"The school is giving me as much time off as I need and staff have come and picked me up for meetings and have taken me out on the weekend."

Louise Walker, head of the Isle of Wight Ambulance Training and Community Response Services (ATCoRS), said Laura was a prime example of how this could happen to anyone and why access to defibrillators is so important.

"This is why it is so frustrating when they get damaged or stolen — it's taking access to life saving equipment from communities," she said.

Laura added: "It's a complete adjustment. I'll need another operation every five to seven years to change the battery and I'm on beta blockers.

"That's forever now, but the benefit of still being here with my family and friends outweighs that overwhelmingly."