At 5am on February 2 this year, Linda Robertson was standing at her front door in Dublin's city centre with her baby son Tyler, in her arms. As the 44-year-old showed him snowflakes falling outside, she had no idea what the day ahead would bring.

"Once we'd seen the snow, we went back to bed, but at around 8.30am, I started perspiring heavily and I felt a heaviness in my chest," recalls Linda.

"When I started vomiting, we called an ambulance and I was brought to the Mater Hospital."

Linda was being wheeled along a corridor towards a treatment room, with three doctors around her bed, when she suffered a cardiac arrest.

"That's what I was told later," she says. "For me, the experience was feeling my body jerk, followed by a gradual loss of consciousness. I think I had an out-of-body experience, because I remember watching myself lying there with my eyes closed.

"The doctors shocked me, and that brought me around. I remember them calling my name. I asked whether I was going to die and they said no.

"Back in the recovery room, I felt absolutely perfect. I was discharged four days later. Because I was advised to take it easy, I stayed off work for a month and agreed with my employer that I would work part-time rather than full-time."

In early April, Linda took part in a six-week Cardiac Rehabilitation Programme, at Heart House in Eccles Street, Dublin. "My medical team suggested I go there, so I went three afternoons a week," she says. "I exercised on all the usual gym equipment and attended talks on medication, diet and health. It was excellent."

A month or so before she had the heart attack, Linda had a burning feeling in her mouth. She was also feeling unusually tired, so her doctor sent her to the Mater Hospital for blood tests. The results came back clear, but Linda remained convinced something was wrong.

'My father died of a heart attack at 68, but even though I'd been smoking 20-a-day since the age of 15, it never dawned on me that it might happen to me too," she says. "Now that it has and I've survived, I feel I've been given a second chance at life, so now I'm trying hard to kick the habit."

The fact that Linda had her heart attack in hospital may have saved her life. It is estimated that of all the people who have theirs elsewhere, only 1% survive. She was fortunate that her family wasn't one of the 5,000--6,000 families who lose a loved one to cardiac arrest in Ireland every year.

"At its peak in 1974, 54pc of all deaths here were heart related," says Michael O'Shea, chief executive of the Irish Heart Foundation. "That figure dropped to 35pc in 2006, but given that France and many other European countries have a rate of 18pc, we aim to reduce ours to that figure by 2020."

Progress has been made: the mortality rate from heart disease has been reducing by 1pc annually since 1996. But there's still a tough battle.

"The obesity problem here is threatening to reverse that progress," explains Michael.

To combat that risk, the Irish Heart Foundation supports research, runs educational campaigns, provides information on heart health and advocates for better patient treatment and services. They also campaign for the introduction of colour-coded food packaging, to alert people as to which are the healthiest purchases. Last year they trained 85,000 people in CPR and other life-saving skills.

"Approximately 93pc of our funding comes from public donations, and we appeal to those who support us to continue to do so, even in these difficult times," says Michael.

"By donating to the Irish Heart Foundation you help fight Ireland's biggest killer disease. We've a track record of success in this fight, and we plan, in so far as is possible, to eliminate the scourge of heart disease once and for all. We can't do this alone. We need your support."

Irish Heart Foundation Helpline: 1890 432 787 Telephone: 01 6685001 If you would like to make a donation you can do so: Online: www.irishheart.ie By post: Irish Heart Foundation, 4. Clyde Road, Ballsbridge, Dublin 4. By Legacy: By remembering us in your will.

- Rita de Brun

Irish Independent