A YOUTH worker turned life saver, performing CPR for the first time ever, after a man collapsed in Oldham town centre.

Azz Mahmood, 37, went to help the man believed to be in his 50s who was lying the street on Yorkshire Street on January 2.

Father-of-three Azz, of Melbourne Street, Chadderton, said: “I got out of my car to investigate and found the gentleman on the ground along with two people - a woman who was on the phone to the ambulance service and another man who had put him in the recovery position.

“I checked his pulse and realised it was very weak. He wasn’t breathing and his face was very pale, almost blue, so I checked his tongue to make sure it hadn’t rolled back.

“The lady who was on the phone who was liaising with the ambulance people said that CPR needed to be carried out as soon as possible.

“I remember thinking to myself ‘this just got real’. So I got on my knees, said Bismillah (a prayer a Allah) and with the help of the call handler started to carry out CPR.

“I could hear the ambulance from a far... it felt like ages 1,2,3,4 on the chest I kept pushing at the same time asking God to help me.

“Paramedics arrived and asked me to continue with the CPR whilst they set up the defibrillator, they cut open his clothes and stuck the pads and asked us to clear.... boom they shocked him and he seem to show a better pulse.

“The ambulance put him on the stretcher and took him away, not without thanking us all. I got up and looked at the lady and man who was present and gave them both a big hug! Even to this day it feels surreal, knowing that I have saved someone’s life.”

“It’s one of the most exhilarating and gratifying experience of my life.

“I’ve done first aid courses, but I’ve never performed CPR on a person before. I’m so glad he survived.”

The man is now recovering in hospital.