A HEROIC teenager sprung into action to help give CPR to a man who had "collapsed while walking" in Rayleigh.

Ethan Shelley, 19, was in the car with his girlfriend Mercede Francis when he saw people crowded around a man in Rawreth Lane.

Ethan rushed from his vehicle to help the man who was having a cardiac arrest.

The trained lifeguard took over from someone already giving the man chest compressions before helping keep the man alive through 12 minutes of CPR before ambulance crews arrived and took over.

Once the man was stable he was taken to Basildon Hospital.

Ethan feels he did his best to save a man’s life after describing the incident “a blur.”

He said: “There were three of four of us around him as a group, we got him back to a stable heart rate and the ambulance crews put him to sleep to control his breathing and heart rate.

“We saw him at the side of the road, pulled over and jumped out and said ‘we are first aiders, can we help’, my girlfriend spoke with the operator.

“I jumped in and I did around four or five rounds of CPR, it was such a blur, it was probably 12 minutes until the ambulance arrived.”

Ethan believes the man was a walker, and was told by people present before him that he had suddenly collapsed after leaning against a wall.

Ethan added: “It shook up everyone to do it but to know he is okay, knowing you did your best to save a life, is a nice feeling.

“It is never nice to do it but it is definitely moral.”

An East of England Ambulance Service spokesman said: “We were called around 4.55pm on Saturday to a medical emergency on Rawreth Lane in Rayleigh.

“A bystander had started CPR on the patient, an adult man, before our teams arrived on scene to take over the treatment.

“We sent two ambulances, a rapid response vehicle, an ambulance officer vehicle and the Essex and Herts Air Ambulance.

“The man was transported by road to Basildon and Thurrock Hospital for further treatment.”