ON A sunny day in April, David Cogan returned to a secluded track near Welton Water.
It was here he almost died after suffering a massive heart attack.
Three months on, the weather was warmer and the sun was shining – painting a different landscape to that dark, cold and wet night.
Gazing out across the water, he says: "This spot is where I could have spent my last few minutes on Earth."
It's the first time he has returned to this place, close to the Humber Estuary, since he almost died on New Year's Day.
Mr Cogan and his colleague Alf Davie had received a phone call from Humberside Police after the body of a missing man had washed up on the foreshore near Welton.
The two men were making the return journey when Mr Cogan suddenly collapsed and fell on his back.
He doesn't remember anything from that day, not even travelling down to the site before his heart attack.
"Even returning now, it doesn't trigger any memories," he says.
"When I first arrived back here, it was very emotional for me.
"I can picture the helicopter but I am imagining it, not remembering it.
"I don't remember anything from that time or from after Christmas, which no one can explain.
"I've been trying for the past two or three months, but it just won't come back to me."
Mr Cogan was taken to Hull Royal Infirmary and then later transferred to Castle Hill Hospital, where he underwent a triple heart by-pass.
Mr Cogan said: "My wife says I was put into a controlled coma and my body temperature was reduced.
"They basically kept filling me with drugs for three or four days.
"I came round at Hull Royal and kept asking my wife where I was and what had happened, but I don't remember that.
"Once I was stabilised, they moved me to Castle Hill's cardiac ward but I have no recollection of that whatsoever.
"Apparently, I was visited by a police officer, but I don't remember that even though I was apparently chatting to him.
"Then I had my operation on January 20 and went home a few days later."
More than three weeks after he collapsed, he returned home but he has only recently returned to work.
He is working part-time at Ronald Cogan and Sons Ltd – his father's company, which he was working for the night he was called down to the water.
"When I was in the hospital, I kept worrying about Alf," he said.
"My wife, Lynda, had told me he was fine, but I was convinced it hadn't happened like I'd been told.
"I got it in my head that I was actually driving back down the A63 when I collapsed and I had crashed the private ambulance.
"I was convinced something bad had happened to him.
"When he came to see me in hospital, I just thought 'Thank God he is alive'.
"It was very overwhelming.
"I don't think Lynda or Alf had realised how concerned I was.
"I thought she was withholding something from me."
About five weeks after his operation, Mr Cogan was allowed back to work.
He said: "I was getting bored and frustrated, so I was ready to go back to work.
"I've been taking it steady, though.
"I've also still got hospital appointments and I have physiotherapy."
Mr Cogan says he cannot thank everyone enough for the tremendous effort they put in to save his life – from Mr Davie and the paramedic to the police, ambulance and helicopter crews and all the staff at Hull Royal and Castle Hill.
He said: "All of them contributed to saving my life and, without them, I wouldn't be here today.
"A lot of people are quick to bad-mouth the NHS and the police but there is another side people don't often see.
"They work very long hours and do a tremendous job."
Despite such a harrowing ordeal and his near-death experience, Mr Cogan, 52, who lives with Lynda in North Ferriby, says he is no worse for wear.
He said: "Apart from losing that bit of memory, I'm not aware of any lasting effects.
"But I do have a different outlook on life, now.
"I've realised there is more to life than work – work does tend to take over our lives a little bit.
"Now I take more time for me and my family."
Having seen two parents die suddenly from heart conditions, and Mr Cogan almost suffering the same fate, he now knows how important life and health is.
He said: "I go out and do a bit of walking now and do about two and a half miles every day.
"I like getting out and about in the sunshine."
