A Tauranga woman is looking to personally thank three strangers who rushed to help her friend when he collapsed and had a seizure on a Mount Maunganui street at the weekend.

Anita Stollery's 33-year-old friend, who suffers from epilepsy, suffered a seizure outside Burger King about 11.30pm on Friday.

Tauranga woman Anita Stollery outside Burger King in Mount Maunganui where the incident happened. Photo by: Zoe Hunter.

'We were sitting in BK and he just said to me I can feel a seizure coming on and I kind of freaked out.

'He told me he was going out for a cigarette…and because I thought he was having a cigarette I wasn't there when it happened and it was about three minutes later I thought where is he?”

What happened next stunned Anita.

First on scene was a man who phoned 111, followed by a female nurse and male doctor who were passing by and came to help.

Anita says the initial helper stayed with her friend until the ambulance arrived, while the nurse placed her handbag underneath his head and gave him CPR.

'It was a 20-minute ordeal…without their help I really don't know how I would have managed,” says Anita, who believes the nurse helped to save her friend's life.

The pair were taken by St John Ambulance to Tauranga Hospital, but on-route the patient decided he was well enough to go directly home, where he is now recovering.

'The whole incident is a bit of a blur for me as I was in shock...I've never seen anything like this.”

Anita works at Mount Maunganui cupcake company D'Lish and wants to personally thank the trio by sending them a box of home-made cupcakes.

She has been able to track down the student nurse, currently working at Matua Life Care – but Anita is still looking for the other two.

'I feel extremely guilty that these people went away without me showing my true appreciation for their help.”

Anita is asking for the passers-by to contact her at anitastollery@gmail.com