Everyone at our Corby store is so proud of our colleague Ashleigh Smith who's been presented with an award from the Royal Humane Society for helping to save a man's life.
Ashleigh, who's security section leader at our Corby store, had to twice use a defibrillator on John Roe to get his heart started.
John, who is in his 60s, was driving with his wife on a road just behind the store's car park when he had a cardiac arrest.
An off-duty nurse who happened to be driving behind saw what had happened, assessed the situation and began to perform CPR on him.
Twenty-seven-year-old Ashleigh said: "The 999 control room said the nearest defibrillator was at our store so a passer-by ran here. Luckily I was on duty and so grabbed the defibrillator and ran to where John was.
"I took one look at him and I thought I was too late to be honest with you. I'd never been so scared in my whole life."
Ashleigh – a trained first-aider – attached the defibrillator pads on John and, following instructions given out by the machine, shocked him twice.
She said: "We thought we had lost him, but when the paramedics arrived they said he had a rhythm. It was such a relief."
John has made a good recovery from his ordeal and came in to the store to thank Ashleigh.
Ashleigh said: "I usually have quite a lot to say to people, but on that occasion I was actually speechless. He said to me: 'The last time you saw me I was dead'.'
Ashleigh, who's mum is a nurse, said she was extremely honoured to receive the award.
The citation read: "...the humanity, prompitude and skill of Ashleigh Smith is recognised by the award of the Resuscitation Certificate of The Society for assisting in restoring a man to life."
Ashleigh's manager Jonny Taylor said the whole store was extremely proud of her.
He said: "It is always great to learn that one of our colleagues has gone above and beyond.
"In what was extremely difficult circumstances Ashleigh took everything on board and didn't falter. We are all proud of her for receiving her award."
