A MUM whose teenage son’s heart stopped for 12 minutes kept him alive using first aid learned from TV.

Debbie Eggenton, of Westcliff, used chest compressions copied from the television to keep her 19-year-old son Keegan alive until paramedics arrived after he choked on a biscuits and suffered a cardiac arrest.

Mrs Eggenton, 47, of London Road, said: “The first thing I knew, Keegan’s girlfriend came in and said she had tried to wake him up and couldn’t get a response.

“I jumped out of bed and ran into his room and started screaming.

“His girlfriend called the ambulance service, who said put him on the floor and start CPR.

“I’d never done it before so I copied what I had seen on TV.

“I was shouting ‘1, 2, 3, 4,’ as I pushed on his chest while my husband talked in his ear.

“All of a sudden the police arrived and I heard a voice in my ear: ‘Would you like me to take over.’

“I was thinking he was dead and I collapsed on the floor, then I went to the kitchen and threw up in the sink.”

Paramedics and a doctor arrived quickly and used a defibrillator to restart Keegan’s heart, but praised Keegan’s parents.

Paramedic Aaron Hughes, who was reunited with the teen as he thanked the team for bringing him back to life, said: “It was a really scary situation for the family and they managed admirably.

“It shows the importance of knowing CPR and just pushing hard and fast on the chest is the most effective thing you can do as it keeps the heart pumping.

“He was out for more than 10 minutes, he’s had an amazing recovery and it’s great to see him fit and well.”

Keegan, who works with his father Jim, 48, at Open Wood Face Facades, in Wickford, woke up a day and a half later in Southend Hospital and remembers nothing of the incident.

He said: “My parents’ actions were superb. They both said they hadn’t been through an ordeal like that before.

“They did what they did so quickly and so professionally in a situation where the adrenaline takes control – it’s out of this world.

“There are no words to describe what they did.”

Echo: Mum Debbie, brother Ryan , Mark Rowley, Keegan, Aaron Hughes, Georgia Statham, brother Shane and dad Jim

Doctors discovered one half of Keegan’s heart is bigger than the other and a blood vessel is in the wrong position.

He stayed in hospital for three weeks but has made a full recovery.

Ex-footballer and Hollywood star Vinnie Jones starred in a famous NHS advert urging people to use “hands-only” CPR two years ago.

Echo: Lifesavers Mark Rowley, Aaron Hughes, Georgina Statham