A Gaerwen man whose heart stopped after his car collapsed on top him has thanked the neighbours and medics who saved his life.

Jack Thomas was changing the suspension on his car at his home last June when he became trapped underneath the vehicle after the jack failed.

The 21 year-old was helped by his neighbour Nicole Taylor, who alerted other neighbours nearby, including Sasha Wyn Evans, a neonatal nurse working at Ysbyty Gwynedd in Bangor.

They lifted the car to release him but found he was unconscious and not breathing.

Sasha began to provide CPR to help Jack with the best chance of survival before the emergency services.

Ian Parry, a paramedic with the Welsh Ambulance Service was the first responder to arrive at the scene.

He said: “When I arrived I saw Sasha who was carrying out chest compressions on Jack, with Emyr taking over and I told them to keep going – Jack now had a pulse again, the fact CPR was carried out straight away meant they saved his life.”

Because of the extent of his injuries, Jack was airlifted by the Wales Ambulance Service to a specialist critical care unit at the Royal Stoke University Hospital. Within two weeks, he had recovered and returned home.

Jack said: “I don’t remember what happened, I just woke up in Stoke five days later and had no idea how I’d ended up there.  "

“I’m so grateful to my neighbours and the emergency responders for what they did for me that day, without them I wouldn’t be here."

“I’ve made such a good recovery since leaving hospital, everyone is so surprised at how quick I’m back on my feet and starting work again soon. I think it was hugely down to the fact I was given CPR so quickly.”

Sasha is now encouraging others to learn how to use CPR skills to help save lives.

She said: "It’s really hard for me to take credit for something that you have been essentially trained to do as a nurse."

"However, not once do you think your morning would consist of helping your neighbours free someone from beneath a car and eventually having to give chest compressions, anyone’s worst nightmare, nurse or not."

“Personally, I feel this incident has really highlighted the importance of attending some sort of emergency lifesaving training, and would urge anyone to attend as you never know when you will need to use it.”

Jack was treated on board the Wales Air Ambulance by two critical care practitioners, Carl Hudson and John Adams, on his way to hospital.

Carl said: "Sadly it is not often we see a good outcome in an incident such as this and this is down to the fact that Jack’s neighbours came to his aid and CPR commenced straight away."

“It’s been fantastic seeing Jack again and seeing him look so well after what happened – I also echo what Sasha says, it is really important for everyone to learn CPR."

"It’s a vital tool to have if you are unfortunately ever in a situation that you would need to use it but as we see with Jack, without that he may not have had such a good outcome.”

Now, Jack and his family and friend are planning to raise money for the Welsh Air Ambulance and the Ogwen Valley Mountain Rescue Team by tackling the Welsh Three Peaks Challenge next September.

Jack’s mum, Angharad added: “It’s incredible how well Jack is after what happened, he suffered broken ribs, collarbone along with a ripped spleen but things could have been so much worse."

“We can’t thank our neighbours and the emergency services enough, they are amazing people. We were even escorted by the police to the hospital in Stoke so we could be there with Jack as soon as possible – it was just amazing what everyone we did."