A YOUNG woman is lucky to be alive after doctors told her she "could have collapsed out of the blue" from an undiagnosed heart condition.

Alice Spencer, 32, had no symptoms but was actually suffering from a serious congenital heart problem called Atrial Septal Defect, where there is a hole in between the upper chambers of the heart.

By the time it was caught during a routine health check, Alice had two holes in her heart and she had gone into heart failure.

She was flown back to Scotland from New Zealand, where she was living at the time and underwent life-saving surgery at the Golden Jubilee Hospital in Clydebank to close the hole before

Doctors told Alice and because she was fit and active it could have triggered a cardiac arrest.

Alice said: “To have something like this happen to you really makes you value your life.

"I didn’t have any symptoms.

"The doctors said because I keep so fit and active, I would be the kind of person who would have just collapsed out of the blue, which is a scary thought.

"But I’m so positive about everything, and I’m all fixed now so I’m so grateful to the doctors who spotted this and all the nurses, specialists and surgeons who helped me at the Golden Jubilee Hospital."

Alice, whose sister is a lawyer in Paisley, spent time recuperating at her parent's home in West Kilbride and is now working at Cambridge University in environmental management.

Alice's mum Wendy Spencer, 63, took on the challenge of running a marathon in a month and raised more than £1300 for the British Heart Foundation, which carries out research into congenital heart conditions.

Wendy, who works for Turning Point Scotland, said: "I was distraught when I found out.

"Alice was so far from home, and I was away as well at the time, so I was so worried when she told me what happened.

"I was just in complete disbelief, she is so fit and healthy it just didn’t seem possible.

"I remember seeing an image of her heart and it was so enlarged.

"She's so so brave, she's remarkable. Before her operation she ran the last two miles of my challenge.

"She refused give in.

" But I knew I had to be strong for her, as I just wanted to get her back to the UK as soon as possible. It just shows, if it can happen to Alice, heart disease can affect anyone.

"Scotland should be really proud of the Golden Jubilee Hospital."

More than 30,000 people took part in BHF's MyMarathon last year, raising over £1million for the BHF.

To find out more visit www.bhf.org.uk/mymarathon