Newcastle Hub: I saw people die when I was 15: Newcastle striker Cisse reveals he was once an ...

PUBLISHED: 04:40 EST, 25 April 2013 | UPDATED: 04:59 EST, 25 April 2013

Emergency sirens are sounding around Newcastle – but former ambulance driver Papiss Cisse is the perfect man to save them from the drop.

Newcastle's top-scorer has been playing with a cracked rib but is hoping to be given the go-ahead to lead the line against Liverpool on Saturday.

Newcastle are still teetering above relegation, only six points clear of Wigan in 18th who have a game in hand, and the club are in need of players who can keep a cool head under pressure.

Staying strong: Cisse has revealed he was an ambulance driver in Senegal

The striker is used to performing life-saving feats from his days as an ambulance driver ferrying patients from Sedihou in his home country Senegal to its capital Dakar.

Alongside a gruelling campaign competing domestically and in Europe, Cisse has been running a campaign to raise money to send an ambulance back home.

Newcastle need the Senegalese to handle the hectic end-of-season nerves to keep them in the Premier League, but he clearly still has a taste for pressure and would happily jump back into an ambulance again.

'I saw people die in the past when I was 15 and driving the ambulance,' Cisse said. 'I was only 15, which is very young, and that was why I stopped going to school because I had this job.

'Some times I had a little money which I gave to my parents. It was hard for me, it was very difficult for me because I was so young. My first time in the job I saw someone die and I cried but I became strong.'

Speaking to BBC's Late Kick Off he added: 'Senegal is my country and my city is Sedhiou but the city is small and the people don’t have money and the hospital is not good. My aim is to buy an ambulance.

'This is my first job to drive an ambulance so I think to buy an ambulance for my city is very important for me. It is my city, it is my brother, my sister, my friend, my family.'