Cardiac arrest
After the successful CPR, Ogburn was brought to the hospital and was placed in a medically induced coma to help him recover for the rest of the week - Representational image Joe Raedle/Getty Images

A North Carolina man who miraculously came back to life after his heart stopped for 40 minutes has paid tribute to the emergency workers who saved him.

John Ogburn, 36, was working on his laptop at a bakery on 26 June when he suffered a cardiac arrest. An employee at the bakery saw him lying on the ground and immediately called 911 for help.

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Two emergency officers – Lawrence Guiler and Nikola Banjic – arrived at the scene in less than a minute and began performing cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR). They took turns resuscitating Ogburn for more than 40 minutes until his pulse returned.

Ogburn said that he owes his life to the officers as they did not give up on him even after performing CPR for over half-an-hour. Emergency workers are not required to perform CPR after 20 minutes without any vital signs, the BBC reported.

"In certain time frames they're supposed to call it, and they didn't, they continued to try to save me. And I am just so grateful for that and for them," the father-of-three said.

Reports say that after the successful CPR, Ogburn was brought to the hospital and was placed in a medically induced coma to help him recover. The first few days were a bit hazy for him, but it became quickly clear that his brain had suffered no damage.

"My energy level hasn't been what it was before, but that might be because my routine changed a bit. The combination of [the chest compressions and an internal defibrillator] is a little sore, but if that's all I got to complain about, then I'm doing really well," Ogburn told the BBC and said he is still thinking how to make most of his second chance at life.

Bajic said that seeing Ogburn in good health was "very emotional".

"I got goose bumps all over because when I saw him and his wife, and how happy they are, and we met his parents and they couldn't stop thanking us for saving their son's life ... that's when you realize, we did all this. ... All these people's lives were impacted by what we did," she added.