A freak accident nearly cost a young man his life. Mujtaba Raza got out of bed on May 7 to let the cat in.
What happened next almost saw his life end at just 22. As he started to walk down the stairs of his Rochdale home, his foot went through a wooden step. He lost his balance and fell.
Mujtaba was left unconscious and didn't wake up until the next day, having shattered his collarbone and hitting his head on the marble floor at the bottom of his stairs. He spent six days in hospital.
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At one point, his family was told he had a 50/50 chance of survival due to heavy blood loss.
Recovering at his home on Halifax Road, he said: "I was going down the stairs when my foot went through a step and was trapped.
"I fell and hit my head. I didn't wake up until the next day. Luckily my brother Taz was in at the time and he called for an ambulance.
"At first, when I came around, I expected to go home soon. But then complications began. As well as shattering my collar bone and damaging a rib, I had an injury to my nose.
"I was losing blood heavily from my nose. I had been taken to Oldham Royal Hospital first, but was transferred to Fairfield Hospital in Bury.
"I ended up being in hospital for almost a week. They were unable to stop the blood loss from my nose. They tried gluing it, then cauterized it, and blocking both my nostrils.
"The staff said they had never dealt with anything like it before. Eventually, they did surgery to remove part of my inner-nose as there was a severe cut to it.
"At one point, my family was told I had a 50/50 chance of living. I ended up on a life-support machine. I had a bleed on the brain and as they tried to deal with the blood loss from my nose I was vomiting blood.
"I am active, fit person, but I started having deep thoughts and flashbacks to my life. I thought to myself 'I am not going to make it - this is it I am finished'. But in the end, they managed to stop the bleeding.
"I am extremely grateful to the hospital staff for what they did."
Mujtaba will require further surgery next week.
"My life was on the line and I didn't know if I would survive," he added.
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