A YOUNG Gourock dad who suffered a heart attack while at work says only a rapid response by paramedics saved him.

Andrew Jenkins, a gas engineer, began suffering chest pains while on a job in Greenock - and realised he was having a heart attack.

The 38-year-old was in Pennyfern at the time and managed to get to his car, but as the pain became agonising he rang an ambulance.

Andrew, dad to Bradley, eight, and Sophia, four, said: "At first I thought it was just indigestion, but I sat for about 20 minutes and it started to progress.

"I tried to stretch out for a drink and the pain got stronger and kept going up and down my arms.

"I felt light-headed - I was seeing stars and knew it was serious and I had to get to hospital.

"As I was close to it I thought I could drive, but I also knew if I passed out I could have caused an accident."

Andrew, who lives with his family in Faulds Park, said the ambulance took just over 10 minutes to reach him.

He said: "When I was picked up by the ambulance, I felt a release of emotion - it was only 12 minutes but felt like an hour.

The paramedics discovered his blood pressure was through the roof, with a reading of 190 over 130.

After tests at IRH confirmed the heart attack, Andrew was blue-lighted to the Golden Jubilee Hospital in Clydebank, where doctors found he had a blood clot in his coronary artery.

He spent five days in the specialist hospital before returning to Inverclyde Royal.

He said: "All the staff were incredible - including the ambulance staff that picked me up."

Andrew has a rare heart condition called bicuspid aortic valve.

The valve normally has three flaps that open and close, to regulate bloodflow, but Andrew's condition meant he only had two.

He was in hospital for a cartilage repair on his knee when a junior doctor noticed a loud heart murmur.

This was diagnosed when he was 30 - and after he started becoming breathless three years later he underwent open heart surgery to replace the valve.

Andrew said: "It's the fifth anniversary in July and I've never had any problems.

"I never expected to have a heart attack.

"The treatment is with medication, which is the best possible outcome."

But he added that there was an 80 per cent blockage in his artery, which could have had more serious consequences if it hadn't been treated.

Andrew said: "When I reflect on it, I do feel lucky to be alive.

"It's been harder for my wife Karyn - she has been a great support, an absolute trooper.

"She been working towards her postgraduate teaching diploma and I told her there was no point in taking time off."

After Andrew came out of hospital in November, he took the minimum month off after his 10-day stay in both hospitals.

The heart attack came only months after he set up his own business, Clydeview Gas and Plumbing, and he had just managed to build up a customer base when it happened.

He believes the stress of leaving Scottish Gas, where he held a job he'd loved for 20 years, could have been a factor in his illness.

Andrew said: "I'd been working with the company for 20 years but then they started to push through major changes to our contracts, stripped back our pensions and wanted us to work an extra 150 hours a year for the same money.

"It was a good job but I was disgusted with what they were doing."

The couple have been through more than most over the last few years, having tragically lost their daughter Sophie Louise in 2012 at 22 weeks.

They were supported by the charity SiMBA and in turn helped the organisation, with Karyn the leading light in getting a Tree of Tranquility installed in Gourock Park - a memorial where parents can attach a copper leaf with a message for their baby.

Andrew also helps to run a men's support group.

Now he is back up and running again he has chosen SiMBA as his chosen charity and will be making a monthly donation from Clydeview Gas & Plumbing.

He says that once his business picks up he will add the British Heart Foundation too, alongside a local charity.