THE nursery of a York boy who defied doctors to recover from a mystery heart attack is holding a fundraising evening to raise money for the hospital which helped save his life.

Two-year-old Zach Hilary, whose heart stopped beating for 39 minutes, was saved by the efforts of ambulance paramedics and his quick-thinking mother, Trudy, who performed mouth-to-mouth until the emergency services arrived at her home in White House Gardens off Tadcaster Road.

Now staff at York College Nursery have teamed up with Zach’s family to stage a fundraising quiz and dinner at the college’s Ashfields Restaurant on Tuesday evening, to raise money for the Children’s Neuroscience Ward at Leeds General Infirmary (LGI).

Mrs Hilary said: “He spent so much time on the ward with the nurses and they were just amazing.

“Sometimes I would go in and he would be at the nursing station on the desk with them.”

Liz Radford, York College childcare manager, said: “We were really concerned to hear what had happened to Zach and our heart went out to his family. We are so pleased that he is making a fantastic recovery and it’s wonderful to see him back at nursery.

“Having talked to Zach’s mum we wanted to do something to thank the Children’s Neuroscience Ward at Leeds. We are holding a fundraising meal at Ashfields Restaurant at York College on Tuesday June 12, which is open to anyone who wants to support the event. Just let us know by phoning 01904770344.”

The Press revealed yesterday how Zach’s parents were told he was unlikely to survive the night after he suffered an unexplained heart attack in January.

On Thursday the family were reunited with Yorkshire Ambulance Service medics, John Jankee and Amy Mackintosh, who helped save Zach’s life.

Yesterday,Vince Larvin, locality director for emergency operations in North and East Yorkshire praised the pair, saying they had played a “massive part” in Zach’s survival.

“Both Amy and John were in tears when they saw Zach,” he said. “I think it was good for them to meet up with the little fellow again.”