A man who suffered a heart attack at the gym last June has returned one year on to thank staff for saving his life.
55-year-old Civil Servant Tony Daly had been working out at the Valley Leisure Centre with his wife Joanne when he fell ill.
Thanks to the quick actions of the gym staff who performed CPR on Tony before using a defibrillator, he has now made an almost full recovery.
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"I always played football and when I worked nearby we would have played five-a-side at the Valley Leisure Centre," the Newtownabbey man told Belfast Live.
"I had no health complications before this and it came on totally out of the blue.
"We were only in the gym about ten minutes so it wasn't that I had done too much.
"I had come into the gym, met Joanne and went onto the cross trainer. When I came off it, I said to Joanne that I felt really dizzy and that is the last I can remember."
Tony had stopped breathing for a total of 26 minutes and the Ambulance Service later returned to praise the quick actions of the staff and told them that they had saved his life.
"I am getting there but it has taken a few months. Since January I have started to turn a corner again and I am feeling much healthier," Tony said.
The Mayor of Antrim and Newtownabbey, Councillor Mark Cooper, added: “I am deeply proud of the staff who saved Tony’s life.
"The Council is fully committed to providing training and development for staff to prepare themselves to deal with incidents like this.
"As part of their training all leisure attendants across council facilities receive 2 hours training every month from The Royal Lifesaving Society (RLSS).
"I cannot stress enough the importance of life saving skills in the workplace and home and how this essential training does save lives.”
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