A TEENAGER has been reunited with one of the lifesavers who helped to bring her back from the dead.

Hollie Tillbrook, 17, suffered a heart attack outside Chiquito restaurant, at Basildon’s Festival Leisure Park.

Off-duty Met Police officer Simon Harman, 40, was one of the first people on the scene and helped perform CPR until paramedics arrived.

Mr Harman, of Noak Bridge, was passing the restaurant by chance. He said: “I came out of the cinema and we were going to go to the Indian buffet, but there was a big queue.

“Outside Chiquito I saw a girl on the floor and I just tried to remember my training.

“We were doing all the basic checks and there was no sign of breathing.

“I was not stressed, but the adrenaline was pumping. It was just fortunate I happened to be there.”

Simon, along with soldier Rob Clarke, who was in Basildon on a week’s leave from Germany, worked together to save the teenager’s life.

He said: “The ambulance arrived and I could see they were very concerned.

“It didn’t look good when I left, but thankfully we got the good news a bit later.”

Hollie, of Barrie Road, Leigh, who suffers from bulimia, suffered the heart attack on March 14, after her potassium levels plummeted dangerously low.

She was rushed to Basildon Hospital and for a brief time was technically dead as her heart had stopped.

But she made a miraculous recovery and was able to leave hospital just five days later.

The pair were reunited, along with Hollie’s boyfriend, Gary Hobbs, and mum Denise Bennett, at the same restaurant where she collapsed a month ago.

Hollie said: “I literally owe him my life. Without Simon, I would have been dead.

“I can’t begin to thank him enough.”

The two lifesavers were identified after Hollie and Denise approached the Echo to appeal for help finding the heroic duo.

Denise said: “We had to say thank you, and also we wanted to highlight how dangerous bulimia is, and the response has been phenomenal.

“We also really want to thank the security people and the paramedics, who were brilliant as well.”

Simon added: “Getting to meet Hollie like this is so important for me, because as police officers, we don’t often get to see the good results of the things we do.”