'H&A' star in near-death experience

Holly Brisley has revealed that she almost died on a recent charity expedition.

The former Home and Away actress, who played Amanda Vale in the Australian soap, developed a potentially deadly high altitude pulmonary edema while climbing Africa's Mount Kilimanjaro last month.

Brisley told New Idea magazine: "There was a moment during the height of that ordeal when things seemed so bad, my nightmare was I'd never make if off that spectacular mountain alive. I really feared I would never see my husband [Paul Ford] or our 13-month-old baby boy [Levi] again.

"The journey up was incredible, from the rainforest at the base to this amazing lunar-type landscape thousands of metres up. It was surreal. The immense beauty of Mount Kilimanjaro is near impossible to describe. You're sleeping above the clouds, it's incredible.

"But as we climbed higher, I began to feel progressively unwell. It was weird - the headaches, general lethargy, dizziness. Then I began vomiting. My face and limbs began to swell and felt very painful. It was like I'd been punched in the face.

"Before the medication stabilised my heart and lungs, I was panic-stricken. It was hard to breathe. My heart was pounding so hard I thought I was having a heart attack. Horrible thoughts raced through my mind that I'd never see my family again. I was a welter of tears and emotion.

"The climb was incredible - it certainly instilled a sense of adventure I'd never felt before. Mount Kilimanjaro is awesome in every sense. You certainly live in the moment and what I went through was certainly life-changing. My priorities are now different. Issues that used to irritate or create concern now don't. The love of my family is even more important."