A south Shropshire man used his life-saving skills for the first time – to save his sister after she collapsed at her home.

Ian Owen sprung into action after sister Mandy fell ill while talking over the phone to her cousin, who raised the alarm.

Mr Owen, of Bucknell, near Ludlow, rushed to his sister’s home with a defibrillator which he was looking after ahead of a scheme going live to introduce the equipment to the village.

The 50-year-old, who is a trainer and instructor in the transport industry, gave his sister two shocks using the defibrillator and put the 47-year-old into the recovery position before emergency services arrived.

Mr Owen, who was trained how to carry out CPR by West Midlands Ambulance Service and to use a defibrillator by the Clun Valley Automated External Defibrillator Scheme, had only received the training seven months before he was called into action to help his sister.

He said “This was the first time I had to put my training into action. It was all a blur really. I put all my training into practice and went into ‘automatic pilot’.”

Mrs Owen, who spent three weeks in hospital including four days in intensive care and a day in a high-dependency unit, has since made an excellent recovery.

She said: “I feel a lot better now. I go to cardiac rehab at Shrewsbury twice a week. I go walking. I really enjoy going to the gym and they are pleased with how I am doing.

“Thank you to everyone involved that night. I am very, very grateful. I am very lucky.”

Mr Owen, who is going on to receive further training to become a fully-fledged Community First Responder, added: “It was luck that there had been a training session the day before. It was luck that I had been given the defib to look after. It was luck that Mandy’s cousin was on the phone to her when she collapsed. At the end of the day I did what I was trained to do.”

The Clun Valley AED scheme has trained more than 80 people in life-saving skills and installed eight defibrillators at Newcastle, Bettys-y-Crwyn, The Anchor, Bucknell, Chapel Lawn, Clungunford, Whitcott Keysett and Mardu.

Volunteers and parish councils who want to support the scheme are asked to visit www.clunvalleyaeds.co.uk or call (01588) 640856. To become a Community First Responder call (01743) 273677.

By Danny Carden