A Penarth woman who recovered from a sudden cardiac arrest thanks to the lifesaving skills of a doctor who happened to be passing when she collapsed is championing a new campaign to promote CPR.

CPR is cardiopulmonary resuscitation and involves giving chest compressions to a person in cardiac arrest to keep them alive until medical treatment can be obtained.

Eleri suffered a sudden cardiac arrest at the age of 47 while jogging and stopped breathing.

A cardiac consultant was passing and after alerting emergency services started CPR on her straight away before an air ambulance arrived to give her shocks of a defibrillator.

Eleri, who works at Ty Hafan children's hospice, was taken to the University Hospital of Wales in Cardiff where she woke up two days later with no recollection of what had happened. It transpired that she was living with an undiagnosed heart condition.

She says: "I wasn't aware that I had an underlying heart condition. I thought I was fit and healthy which goes to show a cardiac arrest can happen to anyone. Without the quick actions of a bystander to start CPR I wouldn't be here today."

A pacemaker and defibrillator were inserted into Eleri just in case the same thing happens again. "The hospital keeps an eye on me, I take tablets but thankfully nothing has happened to me since," she added.

Eleri is now encouraging others to learn how to carry out CPR.

"Even if you aren't trained in CPR, you need to have the confidence to act quickly and do something because ultimately you could save a life," she said.

She is supporting a new campaign also championed by Wales rugby legend Shane Williams called 'Help is Closer Than You Think'.

"Calling 999 and having a go with early CPR and defibrillation really does increase the chances of survival," says Shane. "That is why we are telling people if they find someone not breathing or not breathing normally to call 999 and start CPR immediately. The 999 call taker will tell you where your nearest defibrillator is, but never stop CPR to fetch a defibrillator - send someone else to fetch it for you."

Save a Life Cymru is Wales' national organisation to improve cardiac arrest survival in Wales. The Welsh Government-funded organisation promotes CPR and defibrillation within communities and encourages everyone in Wales to learn or to top up these lifesaving skills.