Evening Telegraph (First Edition)
‘Couple saved my life’
Search for pair who helped woman who could have died
A GRAN is appealing for help to find the mystery couple who helped save her life after she suffered a ruptured brain aneurysm.
Jane Clark, who is from Montrose, almost died after she collapsed in a supermarket car park in March this year.
She had just picked up her grandson from nursery and, instead of going straight home as she normally would, she went to Lidl to buy their dinner.
The 59-year-old’s decision to go there instead of home proved to be a lifesaving one as the aneurysm ruptured as she was driving.
She said: “I remember coming to a set of traffic lights and I felt a horrendous pain in my head.
“It was like having brain freeze but 100 times worse. I just knew something was not right.”
As she managed to park, Jane flagged down the car ahead.
She said: “Their granddaughter, who was in the back of the car, was the one who saw me and alerted them.
“They must have managed to contact my daughter because she arrived at the car park not long after.”
The mystery couple then helped Jane and her daughter as they waited for further help to arrive.
She said: “My daughter was understandably very distressed.
“This couple waited with her for the ambulance to arrive and even offered to drive her to Ninewells when I was taken there.”
After being rushed to hospital, the full extent of Jane’s condition became clear.
She said: “When I was at Ninewells, I was on life support and the doctors gave me just 24 hours to live.
“It was a nurse who t hen spotted I was moving and they knew there was a chance I could survive.”
Jane was transferred to the Western General Hospital in Edinburgh for life-saving surgery.
She added: “It is a miracle that I am still here today.”
Following the surgery, Jane was transferred back to Ninewells before spending eight weeks at the brain injury unit at the Royal Victoria Hospital in Dundee.
She said: “The staff there were so kind and caring.
“They were pushing me to get better even sometimes when I didn’t want to.”
And she said she had no recollection of the months following her near death experience.
Now back home, Jane is hoping to thank all those who helped her along the way.
She said: “Between the staff at Ninewells, the hospital in Edinburgh and everyone at Royal Victoria, I can’t thank them enough.
“I would like to speak to the couple who helped my family and I in the car park when I collapsed as well.
“I just want to shake their hand and say thank you, I am still here.”