LIFESAVERS who worked together to save a mum-of-four when her heart stopped in a cinema in York have been reunited.

Caroline Kimberling, 37, from Poppleton, went into cardiac arrest while she was watching a film at Vue Cinema, with her sons Zach, ten, and Ben, 7.

When her son raised the alarm, a team of strangers - including fellow cinema goers, a member of staff, and paramedics - then helped to save Caroline's life in the incident in October.

The primary school teacher has made a full recovery and has met those who saved her life at a moving award ceremony led by the Yorkshire Ambulance Service in York.

Caroline said: "There were so many people and everyone's efforts were so crucial.

"It was surreal because I gained consciousness in hospital and I had no knowledge of the events, so today is the final piece, to meet the people who were there and saved my life. I'm incredibly grateful.

"I'm so proud to live in a country where people are trained to such a high standard they can bring someone back.

"We can be very proud of our NHS and ambulance service."

Caroline's son Zach was awarded a young lifesaver award for raising the alarm when she stopped breathing, along with his brother Ben, at which point a physiotherapist and a retired nurse, Teresa Das, both came to her aid, alerting staff and moving her out of the cinema.

Teresa told the audience at the ceremony how her husband died in similar circumstances and she was unable to save him with CPR, but she was determined Caroline had to be saved.

Then Wesley Hall, a member of Vue staff trained in First Aid, carried out mouth-to-mouth - a crucial factor in her survival as it kept oxygen flowing to her brain - before paramedics Malcolm McDonald, Neil Green and emergency care assistant Lauren Horsman arrived and used a defibrillator to shock her heart back into action.

She was then treated in the A&E, intensive care, and coronary care departments at York Hospital.

Mr McDonald said he realised afterwards she was the wife of his GP, Dr Daniel Kimberling.

He said: "It was nice to see a contribution from the wider community as well as the ambulance service making a difference to someone's life and to their family."

The odds are stacked against a person surviving cardiac arrest out of hospital, but improve greatly if they receive bystander CPR. In North Yorkshire, 45 people survived cardiac arrest which happened outside of hospital in 2014 - more than the national average.