A CARER has thanked a Good Samaritan after suffering an epileptic seizure in the empty high street on New Year’s Day.

Zoe Elliott, of Shrewton, left the Star and Garter Hotel early that morning when she suddenly felt myoclonic jerks – a precursor to an epileptic fit.

The 23-year-old, who cares for her mother full-time, said: “I’d been in Andover for New Year’s Eve and I came out of the hotel and started to feel grotty.

“No-one was about and then a man suddenly came, and I told him I thought I was going to have a seizure.

“He called an ambulance and then I dropped down almost immediately. “He put me in the recovery position, I could hear him talking to me but I couldn’t say anything.

“When the paramedics came he just left.”

She was treated in the ambulance until her uncle picked her up.

Miss Elliott asked the paramedics the name of her hero, who told her it was Peter.

She added: “It’s just really nice of him to stop and give me the time of day, stay with me and speak to me.

“People don’t do that and often panic.

“For those who help people having seizures and witness seizures, it is very scary, especially since I often stop breathing.

“After I’ve had a seizure around strangers it makes me feel guilty about scaring them because I know it isn’t nice.

“I only told people a few years ago and kept it secret for a long time, because people would find out and stop speaking to me.”

The former Andover College student said she wants to thank the kind stranger.

She said: “It means the world, really it can be really nasty, I’ve been in positions where I’ve hit my head or broken bones, anything can happen.

“I had a friend who died from seizures.”

Miss Elliott says she has had juvenile myoclonic epilepsy since she was 15 years old and as a result of the syndrome has weak bones.

Miss Elliott added that fellow sufferers should always show their medical identity band to prove that something is wrong with you and always ask someone for help.