TOP health and wellness guru Alison Canavan has revealed how her eight-year-old son saved her after she collapsed.

The 40-year-old shocked social media followers last week when she announced she was cancelling her popular Full 360 events around the country until spring 2019.

Her announcement came after she collapsed and was hospitalised in London in August and suffered a re-occurrence in Dublin weeks later due to exhaustion.

Speaking for the first time about her health issues, Alison told the Irish Sun: “We were over there for my cousin’s 70th birthday and to do some touristy things. I woke up in the middle of the night with a pain in my chest and lungs. I started running a fever.

“The next day I was on a train, and my son James was saying ‘Mummy what’s wrong with you’ because I kept bowing my head.

“By the time I had got to my friend Karen’s house, I was mumbling my words.

Alison pictured with her son James

“I told my son I was going to lie down. James, being a complete hero, knew something was really wrong, and rang a friend who contacted a doctor.”

She added: “When the doctor arrived, he took my blood pressure, and found it was really low. I lost consciousness and an ambulance was called.”

Rushed to Whitechapel Hospital, Alison underwent a series of tests. Discharged, the next morning within 24 hours, the Dubliner was back in the care of doctors, who diagnosed pneumonia.

Alison said: “I was in horrendous pain. I can’t describe that pain, it was like someone was sitting on my chest.”

Alison told how her son James reacted quickly when he realised something was wrong with his mum

Getting back to Dublin in time for James to start school, Alison again felt unwell and was admitted to the Beacon Clinic for tests.

She said: “I never really recovered from London. I ended up in the Beacon for about five days. I was losing weight rapidly.

“The doctors did some further tests and told me I had a couple of viruses and would need a good six months to recover.”

The last 12 months has been a busy year for the health and wellness guru — running her business while jetting back and forth to LA where she is studying in UCLA, as well as taking care of James.

As a single mum, Alison said she was acutely aware of the cut in her income from taking time off.

She revealed: “That’s part of the stress when you are not working. It’s no joke when you’re cancelling work. I’m still coaching people one to one and doing corporate talks but the rest I have to be selective about.

“I can’t do the big events because I’m on stage all day and I put so much into them. I have to mind myself.”

She added: “I have made the decision to step back from everything and really focus on my health.”

One of Ireland’s most successful models, after working in Paris, Milan, and London, the Castleknock woman moved to New York where she had a penthouse on Central Park West and worked for Ford Models.

Now back in Ireland, she has picked up thousands of followers as a UCLA-trained health and wellness coach.

Alison said: “I’ve had people saying, ‘I am so disappointed Ali. You are my pillar of health and well-being but if you’re sick, what hope do I have?’

“We shouldn’t try to be someone else, we should try to be a better version of ourselves. Being inspired by someone is different to trying to be someone.”