A Westhoughton dad is looking to spread awareness and help fund a defibrillator in his town after jumping to the rescue of his 10-year-old son.

On the morning of March 7, Jonny Sands woke to find his 10-year-old son, Josh, unresponsive and not breathing.

They had fallen asleep on their couch the night before with Josh saying he did not feel well.

But he woke up the next morning to what he described as a "living nightmare" as his son was not breathing, with his lips blue and pupils dilated.

Jonny immediately began CPR on his son and managed to revive him while waiting for an ambulance to arrive.

He was still unresponsive and having seizures by the time paramedics arrived and was taken to hospital where he was placed into a coma.

Josh has since made a "remarkable" recovery according to Jonny, and he credits the CPR he immediately did on Josh for him still being alive today.

Jonny explained this harrowing event, saying: "We went to sleep on the couch that night watching films and chatting about them, something woke me up to a living nightmare in the morning, I don’t know what but whatever it was I’m so grateful it did. My son was not breathing.

"As I stared at his motionless body on the floor it took me a few seconds to process what was happening, I jumped off the couch and realized he was not breathing, no colour in his face, lips blue and his pupils fully dilated just staring up at the ceiling.

"I began CPR immediately shouting up to his mum who was sleeping in bed upstairs, within 2 minutes I saw the colour come back in his face and his pupils go back to normal. It was a massive relief, but this was only short lived as Joshua then began to have a seizure. He was still unresponsive.

"I continued CPR whilst Sam (his mum) rang the ambulance, they stayed on the phone until the first paramedic arrived at our house within six minutes of that phone call.

"Once the first responder arrived, he took over the situation and told me I could stop chest compressions, which I was reluctant to do but trusted his ability. Joshua was still having seizures and was still unresponsive.

"They then transported him to the ambulance quickly and Sam accompanied him to the hospital. I stayed at home with our 6 year old son, who had seen and heard everything.

"After the longest three hours of my life Sam phoned to tell me that they had placed Joshua into an induced coma as he kept having seizures, and they was taking him down for a CT scan.

"Everything was just a waiting game and was absolute torture, but we just had to trust the amazing NHS workers that were caring for Joshua at the Royal Bolton Hospital.

"His recovery over the last week has been remarkable and I know for certain that without the skills learned through first aid courses, I would be organising a different kind of service that is unthinkable."

Josh spent the next day in an induced coma before being slowly woken up the next day.

They still do not know what caused this incident but Josh is "getting better and is now at home recovering".

Jonny now wants to use this experience to raise awareness of knowing how to do CPR as he believes it could help save more lives.

He wants to use his company, Kickstarterz Sports, a group that promotes an active lifestyle among young children through sports and fitness, to offer free first aid courses in his Westhoughton community.

He added: "I think it is vital that at least one household member should be first aid competent.

"When restrictions allow, my company Kickstarterz Sports will be doing fully accredited first aid courses in our local community of Westhoughton for free.

"We also have a go fund me page open for voluntary donations to help us spread awareness further, and to purchase an AED defibrillator, as well as other resources and equipment.

"Hopefully people will never need the skills learned but they could just save a life."

To donate to the gofundme page, visit gofundme.com/f/kickstarterz-awareness-for-live-saving-skills.

For more information about Kickstarterz, visit kickstarterz.co.uk.