A security guard helped save a man’s life outside a Bookies shop in Dublin recently only to realise midway through the rescue that the person was his uncle.

Darragh Lawlor was working in security at the Pavillions Shopping Centre in Swords, Co Dublin two weeks ago when his colleague Ger Clark radioed for a defibrillator to be brought to Ladbrokes on Main Street.

The 24-year-old security guard ran to the scene to find “a man on the floor but I didn't recognize him at all,” the Irish Mirror reports.

"His face had gone grey and anyway I only had time for the briefest glimpse before I started massaging and pumping away at his heart. 

"After about two minutes I was starting to get tired so I sat back for a second, and that is when I got a good look at him and realised it was my mum's brother Paddy.

"When I noticed that the adrenaline really kicked in, I got a second surge of energy from somewhere, tiredness went out the window when I saw who it was."

Lawlor’s uncle, 55 and a dad-of-three, only left Beaumont Hospital on June 26 after three days in the Intensive Care Unit, but his nephew claims he's almost back to his best.

And his nephew is certainly happy he came to the rescue: "It’s the best feeling ever to have saved someone’s life, and even better when it's a family member."