At age 35, Victoria Thomas was living a normal life when, without warning, everything changed.
During a high-intensity boot camp workout at her gym, she suddenly felt unwell. She turned to a friend and said something didn’t feel right — then collapsed to the ground.
Paramedics arrived swiftly and discovered she was in full cardiac arrest — her heart had completely stopped.
Now 41 and residing in Gloucester, UK, Victoria remembers the moment with startling clarity. “I felt my energy just drain away. I was dizzy, and then everything went black.”
But what happened next was something out of the ordinary — a powerful out-of-body experience.
“It was total darkness at first,” she recalled. “Then suddenly, I could see myself from above, lying on the gym floor. It was like I was floating near the ceiling. I didn’t see a tunnel or feel calm — I was just watching. I saw yellow medical equipment all around me.”
For 17 long minutes, emergency responders worked tirelessly to bring her back.
“They never gave up on me,” she said. “I was young, healthy, and this came out of nowhere. But they kept fighting.”
Victoria spent three days in a coma before waking up. Doctors later implanted a defibrillator to help regulate her heart, a device that saved her life more than once in the months that followed.
With no family history of heart disease, Victoria was determined to reclaim her life. Just three weeks after her collapse, she was back on the netball court. “The shocks from the defibrillator were scary, but it meant I could keep doing what I love.”
Then, in 2021, things took another difficult turn. During her pregnancy, her heart began to deteriorate rapidly. She suffered repeated cardiac arrests and was ultimately diagnosed at 24 weeks with Danon disease — a rare genetic condition that affects the heart, muscles, and other organs. Her baby, Tommy, was delivered early at 30 weeks via emergency c-section.
Thankfully, Tommy was healthy and later confirmed not to carry the genetic condition.
But Victoria’s heart was failing. By 2022, her heart function had plummeted to just 11% — a critical state.
“When I asked my doctors how much time I had, they said only a few months. It was crushing. My only thought was for my son. I told myself I had to stay.”
In April 2021, she received a heart transplant — the operation that saved her life. Since then, her recovery has been nothing short of incredible. She’s returned to sports, playing basketball and volleyball, and even competed in the World Transplant Games in Germany.
Reflecting on her journey, Victoria sees it as a blessing.
“I’ve been given another chance — at life, and at being a mother. And that’s the most precious gift of all.”
Victoria Thomas’s story is a moving testament to human resilience, the power of modern medicine, and a mother’s unbreakable promise to never give up.
