Karen Maitchell, 66, from Darlington, was walking both her dog and granddaughter’s dog with family and friends in South Park in April 2024.

Due to heavy rain and thunder and lightning they retreated to the onsite café for a short while before heading back outdoors.

Unfortunately, Karen’s granddaughter’s dog called Rolo, who was a six-month-old cocker spaniel, decided to run towards the lake, which was overflowing, and jumped in.

Recalling what happened next, Karen said: “All I could think about was my granddaughter and how she’s going to absolutely be broken-hearted if her dog dies. So, I threw myself into the lake to try and save him.”

Karen can’t remember much after diving into the water and believes she blacked out temporarily while searching for Rolo.

Her family and friends shouted for help, and a passerby, who happened to be a firefighter, offered to go into the lake.

Karen vaguely remembers being pulled out of the water and the dog managing to get back on dry land, but unfortunately, she then went into cardiac arrest and the man who helped her began performing CPR.

Emergency services including the North East Ambulance Service (NEAS), Great North Air Ambulance Service (GNAAS) and police officers attended the scene.

She was shocked by a defibrillator which got her heart beating again and then was put into a medically induced coma.

Karen was taken to Darlington Memorial Hospital where she remained in a coma for several days, and her family and friends were unsure if she’d recover.

She said: “I was told that there were around 40 or 50 people who turned up at the hospital and some of them were saying goodbye to me.

“Apparently my eldest son walked in, and he said all the machines were going off, and everyone was hysterical.

“All of a sudden I just woke up out of that coma.”

By coincidence, the passerby who helped Karen turned out to be the husband of a member of staff from the hospital.

Karen said: “I remember waking up and seeing this lovely lady standing by my bed, asking how I was doing because her husband needed to know that I was alright. She explained that he was the man in the park and I just started crying and said, ‘Oh crikey.'”

Karen spent a couple of weeks in hospital before returning home to continue her recovery and was full of praise for the people who helped her on that fateful day.

She said: “I feel like I’m very very lucky to be alive and I can’t thank everyone enough. GNAAS, the police, NEAS and the man who gave me CPR all worked together to save my life. I honestly wouldn’t be here if they hadn’t helped me.”

She’s since held a charity night, which included a disco and raffle, in aid of GNAAS and raised £1,400.

She added: “I am over the moon to have raised that amount of money. Special thanks to my sister Michelle, my niece Amanda, and my friends Alison and Bailey, who all played a special role, in organising the event.”