A British teenager is speaking out after a terrifying ordeal that nearly cost her life—claiming that doctors ignored her persistent warnings about a key symptom until the day she collapsed and technically “died” in front of her classmates during a routine school assembly.
17-year-old Ellie Thompson, from Kent, shared her harrowing story this week in an emotional interview with BBC News, revealing that repeated complaints of chest tightness and dizziness were brushed off by medical professionals for nearly a year—until her heart stopped without warning, right in the middle of her school auditorium.
“It felt like nobody was listening,” Ellie said. “I kept saying something was wrong. My chest hurt all the time, even when I was just sitting still. They told me it was anxiety. Then one day I just dropped. I actually died for 3 minutes.”
The incident occurred in March during morning announcements at St. Clare’s Sixth Form, where Ellie suddenly went pale, slumped in her seat, and began convulsing. According to students who spoke to The Guardian, a teacher attempted CPR while another called emergency services. Paramedics arrived within six minutes—and used a defibrillator to shock her heart back into rhythm.
Ellie was later diagnosed with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM)—a serious and often undetected heart condition that thickens the walls of the heart and disrupts normal blood flow. It is one of the leading causes of sudden cardiac arrest in young people, especially athletes. But Ellie was not an athlete. She was simply a teenager with a symptom no one took seriously.
“I had no idea my heart was at risk,” she told ITV News. “And neither did any of the doctors I saw.”
Over the past year, Ellie said she visited her GP six times, complained of shortness of breath, fatigue, and recurring chest tightness. She was given breathing exercises, anti-anxiety medication, and told to “relax.” But her mother, Sarah Thompson, says the entire time she watched her daughter “fade” right before her eyes.
“We begged for tests. We asked for a cardiologist referral. They told us it was panic attacks,” Sarah said. “I nearly buried my daughter because they didn’t listen.”
After the collapse, Ellie was rushed to a London hospital and underwent emergency surgery to implant a subcutaneous defibrillator—a device that will monitor and regulate her heartbeat for the rest of her life. She is now stable but living with trauma and a message she’s determined to spread: always listen to your body, even when doctors don’t.
“I knew something was wrong. I knew it,” Ellie said in a now-viral TikTok she posted from her hospital bed. “If you feel something isn’t right, keep fighting. Keep shouting. Don’t let anyone silence your symptoms.”
Her video, posted by @EllieHeartFighter, has amassed more than 6 million views, with thousands of users flooding the comments with their own stories of being misdiagnosed or dismissed.
“I went through the exact same thing,” one commenter wrote. “I had a hole in my heart and was told it was just stress for years.”
Medical experts are now weighing in on the case. Dr. Jennifer Mallick, a cardiologist at King’s College Hospital, told NHS News, “HCM can be subtle. Many patients experience vague symptoms that are easily misinterpreted. But when a teen repeatedly presents with unexplained chest pain, a cardiac screening should always be considered. We need to do better.”
According to the charity Cardiac Risk in the Young (CRY), 12 young people die every week in the UK from undiagnosed heart conditions. The organization has renewed calls for the government to introduce mandatory heart screenings in schools—a policy that has faced resistance over cost concerns.
After Ellie’s story went public, a petition to make heart screenings routine for teenagers has garnered more than 150,000 signatures in less than three days. The petition, launched by Ellie’s mother and hosted on Change.org, calls for all students aged 14–18 to be offered annual ECG screenings.
Even celebrities are speaking out. British singer Anne-Marie reposted Ellie’s TikTok to her Instagram stories, adding, “This made me cry. Listen to young people. Believe them.” TV presenter Davina McCall commented, “This could be anyone’s child. We must take this seriously.”
Health Secretary Amanda Pritchard responded to the backlash in a statement to BBC Radio 4, promising an internal review of cardiac care pathways in general practice. “This is a tragic near-miss that underscores a broader problem of diagnostic bias in youth healthcare,” she said. “We owe Ellie—and others like her—action.”
For Ellie, recovery is slow. She’s been fitted with a wearable heart monitor and is taking medication daily. She won’t be returning to school this term and may never participate in high-impact activities again.
But she says the near-death experience has given her clarity.
“I’m alive because a teacher didn’t give up on me that day. But I shouldn’t have had to nearly die to be taken seriously.”
Now, she’s turning her story into a platform, launching an awareness campaign called #HearMyHeartbeat to promote early cardiac testing and encourage young people to advocate for their own health. She plans to speak at schools and health panels nationwide this summer.
“I’ve got a second chance,” Ellie said. “I’m going to use it to make sure other kids don’t lose their first.”
