A woman who technically 'died' for 17 whole minutes after a gym workout has opened up about the surreal things she experienced right before being brought back to life.

Victoria Thomas, a fitness-loving mom from Gloucester in the UK, says she was smack in the middle of a high-intensity boot camp session when she suddenly started to feel extremely unwell.

Right after wrapping up some weightlifting, she remembered a wave of exhaustion hitting her hard, like all the strength just vanished from her body. She shared: "I was also feeling slightly dizzy."

Back then, Victoria was 35 years old. She had just told her friend that she wasn’t feeling right when she suddenly collapsed right there on the gym floor, according to The Mirror.

It turned out that Victoria, who works as an accountant, had gone into cardiac arrest. As paramedics arrived and jumped into action with CPR, the fear in the room was real. Her heart had stopped beating.

Now, Victoria has spoken about what she saw during that terrifying moment between life and death. She described her surroundings as fading into darkness, where everything just seemed to disappear.

Victoria had to have a heart transplantGreater Birmingham Chambers of Commerce

"Then I became aware of looking down on my body." she went on. "I was floating near the roof and was looking down at myself on the gym floor."

"I didn't see a light, or feel peaceful, I was just watching myself, and I could see some yellow machines around me," Victoria said, giving more detail about that strange out-of-body moment.

After what must have felt like an eternity, emergency crews managed to restart her heart. Seventeen minutes had passed before she was back.

"They never gave up on me." the now 41-year-old mom recalled. "The minutes ticked by, but they refused to stop trying. I was so young, fit and healthy and it had come completely out of the blue."

Once doctors got her stable, Victoria spent three full days in a coma. They fitted her with a defibrillator as a precaution in case her heart failed again.

But her battle wasn’t over yet. Over the next few months, her heart stopped multiple times. Thankfully, the defibrillator stepped in every time and jolted her back to life.

Victoria doesn’t have any known family history of heart conditions, which made her situation even more surprising. She says she owes her life to the defibrillator, which gave her the chance to keep going and live life the way she wanted.

"I went back to playing netball three weeks after it happened, with my defibrillator." she shared. "It was a shock whenever it went off, but it allowed me to carry on living my normal life, which I was so grateful for."

Her heart had stopped for 17 minutesGetty Images

When she became pregnant in 2021, the extra strain on her heart made things worse. Victoria explained that she started going into cardiac arrest more often as her pregnancy progressed.

Eventually, at just 24 weeks pregnant, doctors discovered that she had Danon disease. It’s a rare genetic disorder, and because of the risks, they had to deliver her son, Tommy, via emergency C-section at 30 weeks.

According to the Cleveland Clinic, Danon disease is inherited and can affect various parts of the body, including the heart, muscles, eyes, and brain. Victoria is the first in her family known to be diagnosed with it.

Thankfully, her baby boy turned out to be healthy and strong. But Victoria’s heart had taken a major hit by then. A check-up in 2022 revealed that her heart was only working at 11 percent capacity, which doctors say is usually a sign of end-stage heart failure.

"I asked the doctors how long I had left and they told me I had just another couple of months."

"It was devastating. All I could think of was Tommy. I vowed I wouldn't leave him." she added emotionally.

Incredibly, in April 2023, Victoria underwent a successful heart transplant. Now, she’s setting her sights on competing in volleyball and basketball at the World Transplant Games in Germany — an amazing turnaround.

Even more good news came when doctors confirmed that three-year-old Tommy doesn’t show any signs of Danon disease so far.

Victoria finished by saying: "I feel like I've been given a second chance at life, and to be a mum. It's the greatest gift I could ever have asked for."