A woman was given a second life in Australia when doctors brought her back from the dead after she was declared clinically dead for 42 minutes. Vanessa Tanasio, a 41-year-old mother of two, was admitted at the Monash Medical Centre in Melbourne after she suffered a serious heart attack.

Doctors said one of her major arteries was completely blocked. The Australian woman went into cardiac arrest when she was rushed to the emergency room and was declared to be clinically dead upon arrival.

The Melbourne doctors refused to give up on the woman and proceeded to revive her. Doctors used a compression device known as Lucas 2 to keep the blood flowing to Ms Tanasio's brain. The device is the only one of its kind in Australia. Cardiologist Wally Ahmar opened one of her arteries to remove the block.

Once the doctor unblocked her artery, her heart began beating again and went back to its normal rhythm. Mr Ahmar said he used multiple shocks and various medications to revive the clinically dead patient. He said it was a miracle to see the woman alive after 42 minutes. A patient is clinically dead when breathing and blood circulation stops.

Ms Tanasio said she has no medical history of heart ailments, and she was thankful to be given a second chance to live. She only remembered she was sitting on the couch, then falling on the floor. The next thing she knew, she arrived at the hospital. She said she couldn't recall what happened two days after that.

She said she was dead for almost an hour and felt great only a week later. It was a surreal experience for Ms Tanasio.

The Lucas 2 is a device designed to compress the chest similar to CPR or cardiopulmonary resuscitation. The device allowed doctors to work on the patient and compress the heart non-stop. The constant compression also enabled doctors to put a stent to unblock the artery.

The Lucas 2 was donated to the medical centre and it was the first time doctors successfully used it to save a patient's life.

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