This incredible video shows the moment a young woman with a rare heart condition becomes clinically dead for a minute before being pulled back to consciousness by medical staff. Sara Brautigam has regular brushes with death and in one year was pronounced clinically dead 36 times.

 

The 21-year-old was four years ago diagnosed with Postural orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome (PoTS), a condition which makes her heart race while standing upright. She experiences rapid palpitations that regularly cause her heart to stop beating and her blood pressure to plummet to what doctors record as clinically dead.  The alarming video was shot three years ago with the consent of Ms Brautigam who has agreed for it to be released to highlight her condition. She said: 'In reality this was quite a mild attack. As you can see my heart rate is very up. Then you see me go limp and the doctors and nurses all crowd round.

 

They can't give me CPR because CPR tires the heart out for no reason so it is pointless. When the heart fills up with blood again is when it begins beating again. 'The blood tends to pool in my legs and the doors need to help feed it back to the heart.' Ms Brautigam said it is about four minutes into the video, when they start giving her oxygen and applying canulas, that she clinically dies.

'I can't have oxygen because it prolongs the attack. In the video here it is before I was properly diagnosed so the doctors have panicked which is why you see them giving me oxygen. 'In fact it is just a case of leaving me there and praying. The only thing they can do is put me on a drip,' she added. The video was shot by medics assessing her at the Northern General Hospital in Sheffield, South Yorkshire on June 27, 2012.

Ms Brautigam, from Doncaster, said each time her heart stops medics have to inflict pain on her to shock her into coming back to life. Ms Brautigam said that she has contacted other people with the same condition, but none of those people's hearts have stopped

 

Ms Brautigam said that she has contacted other people with the same condition, but none of those people's hearts have stopped She said: 'When it happens paramedics try and do anything to inflict pain to try and shock me into coming back to life. 'A lot of the time I'll wake up with big bruises. On one occasion they ripped an acrylic nail off but that still didn't make me flinch.' Ms Brautigam said that she has contacted people with PoTS, but none of those people's hearts have stopped. 

 

She also suffers joint hypermobility syndrome which means her joints are more prone to injury and dislocation. The two combined resulted in her visiting A&E a staggering 64 times in one year. 'When I was still canoeing I had an attack in my boat and when I came around I was screaming before I knew it because I had somehow dislocated my shoulder and damaged my back while I was passed out.' But Ms Brautigam - who has canoed for Great Britain - says she is determined not to let the conditions hold her back and is now trying to make a life as a burlesque performer. She said: 'There are signs before it happens - I'll feel dizzy or sick and really tired and then I feel as though I'm falling asleep.I can hear everything around me and feel as though I'm trying to shout but nothing is coming out.

 They say when you die your hearing is the last thing to go and that's been my experience. After an attack I'll wake up and my chest will be killing and I'm really tired.

 

'I get asked it quite a lot, but there is definitely no bright light. Everything just goes black. 'You can still hear things and there is a voice in my head that is still active and still conscious and it is trying to communicate with those around me. I can remember what people are saying when I black out but have no other awareness of what's going on.'