Helsby man who had heart attack on M56 meets his resilience firefighter rescuers

A Helsby man who had a heart attack on the M56 has been reunited with the resilience firefighters who helped save his life.

Mark Ashton, 56, lost consciousness between junctions 11 and 12 of the motorway at 3pm on Wednesday 8th July, and crashed into the central reservation.

Luckily, firefighters Neil Harrison, 53, and Ian Lloyd, 57, were driving behind him and were able to give him CPR, effectively saving his life.

He is now recovering well after heart surgery.

Mark was at Frodsham Fire Station today (Monday 21st September) to thank Neil and Ian, to whom he says he will be forever indebted.

"Fate was certainly smiling on me that day on the M56 and I have wanted to thank my heroes in person ever since I woke up in hospital and found out what had happened and what they did for me," said Mark.

"It was emotional meeting them all.

"If I hadn't been fortunate enough to have a group of people with such high level CPR knowledge behind me when I had the heart attack whilst driving along the motorway, I would not be here now and I'd never have met my latest granddaughter, April."

Neil said: "When we were giving Mark CPR, we thought he was dead. To see him now a few months on looking so well was amazing."