A Griffith local is urging other women to get their hearts checked after an inflammatory cardiac disease left her fighting for life in hospital.

Griffith Public School teacher Kellie Kelly, from Griffith in NSW's Riverina, was overseeing her class at the school's annual athletics carnival in July 2021.

Despite the day being particularly cold, Mrs Kelly said she wasn't feeling uncomfortable or unwell.

She said the last thing she remembered was getting on the bus with students at the day's end to go back to Griffith Public School.

"I collapsed on the seat," Mrs Kelly said.

She said then-principal Jude Hayman and fellow teacher Rita McIver told students to get to the back of the bus before they began administering CPR on the unresponsive Mrs Kelly.

The school teacher was transported via ambulance to Griffith Base Hospital where she said she suffered seven more cardiac arrests, prompting healthcare professionals to consider giving up.

One nurse persisted and Mrs Kelly eventually returned to a stable state, after which she was transported to Wagga Wagga Base Hospital and then St Vincent's in Sydney where she was given a pacemaker.

"It's been a long road to recovery since," she said.

Mrs Kelly said her test results came back positive for Sarcoidosis, a rare disease in which tiny particles or granules begin to build in certain areas of the body.

"I don't know how they got in there but it caused the electrical wiring in my heart to not work properly," she said.

Mrs Kelly now wants all women to stop hesitating and get their hearts checked, even after the slightest discomfort.

According to AIHW statistics, coronary heart disease is the second biggest killer of women in Australia, accounting for 8.5 per cent of all deaths. It's also the biggest killer of adults aged 45 to 64.

"Sometimes there's no symptoms, so you need to go and get your heart checked," Mrs Kelly explained. "Even if it's just a bit of reflux, go and get it checked."

Almost 12 months after the episode which left her clinging to life, Mrs Kelly said she felt blessed to be alive.

"I'm not deeply religious but I feel my stars were aligned that day," she said.

"If anyone was going to do CPR on me it was the two most experienced people there. The ambulance was also there within minutes and I had a wonderful nurse at the hospital too.

"Things were just in my favour," she added.

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The road to recovery is still ongoing for the schoolteacher and mother, who travels to Sydney every three months to see a cardiologist, who has informed her the condition will eventually ease.

Recent tests results showed she had also developed cardiomyopathy from the lingering granules in her system though. Mrs Kelly said this had made normal everyday exercise more difficult for her, given the condition puts pressure on the heart's ability to pump blood.

That still hasn't stopped her from spreading her message.

"I would love people to go and get their hearts checked," Mrs Kelly said.

"Be fit and if something's wrong then just go to the doctors. You might not know you have this problem and then one day drop dead, when you could've known about it and treated it."

"People don't normally survive cardiac arrest," she added. "Everyday I'm so grateful that I'm here."