Seriously ill Mary May, 37, needed a six-pint blood transfusion after she suffered an ectopic pregnancy and was rushed to hospital.

And today, she admitted it was her neighbour, Kim Wright, who saved her life.

As she revealed the heartwarming tale, Mary admitted: "She is my heroine. If it was not for her I would not be here."

But reluctant heroine Kim said: "I was just in the right place at the right time."

The pair relived Mary's ordeal as the best friends and neighbours chatted at Kim's home in Chatham Road, Hartlepool.

They described how Mary had just found out she was five weeks pregnant.

Mum-of-two Mary added: "I had a tummy ache and I had a sharp pain in my back."

She said she called out to her eight-year-old son Ryan that she did not feel well.

Housewife Mary continued: "The pain was getting really bad and I went to lie down on the bed. It was getting worse by the minute and the sweat was teeming off me. I phoned my husband. He was on his way home. but I said to Ryan 'get Kim from next door'."

By coincidence, Kim had been sitting outside the front of her house and had heard Mary's agonizing shouts. And as soon as Ryan opened the door, she rushed in to help her best friend.

Single mum Kim, 43, said: "I knew straight away it was an ectopic pregnancy. I don't know why. Mary was saying 'wait until my husband gets home' but I knew I had to phone for an ambulance straight away."

Mary was rushed to the University Hospital of North Tees accident and emergency department where she and husband Vincent, 36, a truck driver, were taken to a private room.

Mary remembers little of what happened next. But she said Vincent filled in the blanks later. "He told me that, as I was trying to get into a wheelchair my eyes rolled to the back of my head and I collapsed.

"I woke up in another room with tubes coming out of me. They told me I had had an ectopic pregnancy."

She said she had had an operation and needed a transfusion after losing six pints of blood.

Mary, who also has a daughter Rebecca, 19, and two grandchildren, added: "I owe my life to Kim. If it was not for her I would not be here today. After the operation, I was told that I had been 15 minutes from death.

Mary spent three days in hospital and needed two weeks of care when she returned home.

Kim – mum to Kelly, 24, Michael, 23, and Christopher, 18 – becomes the December winner of the Mail makeover competition.

She received a fantastic new look courtesy of the Bombshell hair salon in Park Road, Hartlepool.

Mary said: "She deserves it. That woman is a fantastic person."