Schoolgirl, 17, so worried about detention after sneaking out of school to buy food she collapsed with a HEART ATTACK

A sixth former was so distraught about being given her first detention that she collapsed and had a heart attack.
Tabatha McElligott, then 17, was caught by a teacher after sneaking out of school with friends to buy chocolate.
And her fear caused an undiagnosed rare heart condition to kick in.
Teachers dialled 999 and an emergency first aider arrived at Westcliff High School for Girls in Essex within three minutes.
He was able to restart her heart in the playground with a defibrillator before an ambulance arrived.
Doctors discovered that Miss McElligott, from Leigh-on-Sea, was born with ‘anomalous left coronary artery from the pulmonary artery’, which could have killed her at any time. The congenital condition causes her body to pump blood around her heart the wrong way.
Only 10 per cent of sufferers survive if they are not diagnosed by their first birthday.
‘I’d never really been in trouble at school, so I was mortified when we started getting shouted at and my heart obviously couldn’t cope with it,’ she said yesterday.
‘I felt my legs turning to jelly, and then everything went black.
‘I know now my heart was a ticking timebomb  waiting to go off.
‘In a strange way, I’m actually incredibly lucky I had a heart attack when I got shouted at. There was someone there who could help me.
‘I could easily have been left brain damaged or even dead if my heart had stopped for longer.’
After open heart surgery, she is now able to lead a normal life, simply taking beta blockers daily to slow her heart rate and aspirin to thin her blood.
Now 19, she has even trained as an emergency first aider to help others.
She added: ‘Since recovering, I have trained as an emergency responder, so I can carry my own defibrillator and be first on the scene if an emergency happens near me.
‘I’ve now made it my mission to ensure all young people are taught CPR, and as many as possible train to become emergency responders. It might just save a life.’
Nurse Cathy Ross, of the British Heart Foundation, said: ‘Most people with this condition are diagnosed at birth, so it’s incredibly rare to survive until your teenage years without knowing about it.
‘This young lady was very lucky that a community responder was on hand so quickly and shows just how important it is for ordinary people to know basic life support skills in case of an emergency.’

Her hero: Tabatha with paramedic Steve Hockley who restarted her heart in the school playground. She still bears a severe scar from the incident

Miss McElligott and her friend Catherine Newton left the school grounds during a free lesson in July last year.
When they came back from a local supermarket, a fire alarm had been triggered and staff were taking a roll call.

ANOMALOUS LEFT CORONARY ARTERY FROM THE PULMONARY ARTERY (ALCAPA)

Cathy Ross, senior cardiac nurse at the British Heart Foundation, said: 'ALCAPA is a very rare condition some people are born with where the left coronary artery that usually carries oxygen-rich blood from the aorta to a large portion of the heart muscle, is connected to the pulmonary artery instead.
'The pulmonary artery carries deoxygenated blood meaning the left side of the heart receives much less oxygen than it needs to be able function properly often resulting in a heart attack or leading to heart failure.

'Most people with this condition are diagnosed at birth, so it's incredibly rare to survive until your teenage years without knowing about it.'

‘We never thought anyone would miss us. We were on the way back to school when we heard the fire bell ringing and we ran back,’ said Tabatha, from Leigh-on-Sea.
‘When we got to the gates I could hear my teacher calling my name and my heart started hammering.
‘She began to tell us off but my heart just kept beating harder and harder and her voice sounded really distant.
‘I felt my legs turning to jelly and then everything went black.’

A trained emergency responder arrived within three minutes and saved the schoolgirl’s life before she was taken to Southend Hospital.
She was later transferred to The Heart Hospital at University College London, where experts diagnosed the condition.

‘I was stunned when I was told I’d had a heart attack – I was only 17,’ said Tabitha.
‘In my mind, heart attacks were something that overweight middle-aged men worried about – not something that happened to active teenagers like me.’
The British Heart Foundation does not keep statistics on the occurrence of ALCAPA in the general population but described it as ‘very rare’.

Panic: Tabatha McElligott was so 'mortified' at being scolded for sneaking out that she felt her 'legs turn to jelly' and she collapsed