“Walk this way” local postmaster turns heart scare into a 2,000km challenge

A Sub Postmaster who spent his life serving customers from dawn to dusk is now spending his retirement walking miles to protect his heart and inspire others to do the same.

Shaz Naz, 64, from Hollingworth, underwent a nine-hour quadruple heart bypass after doctors discovered his arteries were dangerously blocked following a routine act of kindness during the Covid pandemic. 

Shaz formerly ran family businesses in Bury, Hyde, Stalybridge, Reddish, Gatley, and even worked behind the counter as a seven year old in their families first newsagent in Hollinwood, and even ran a department store in Karachi, Pakistan.

“I was taking groceries to an elderly lady at the bottom of Woolley Lane,” he recalled. “Halfway down I kept getting pain in my arm, I was breathless, then the chest pain started. I could barely make it back to the shop.”

Doctors at hospital first diagnosed angina and attempted to fit stents, but quickly realised his arteries were too clogged. “They stopped after five minutes and said, ‘Sorry Mr Naz, you’re going to need a heart bypass, four of them,’” he said. “They told me, ‘Don’t go back to work, don’t lift anything, the next time you have these pains it could be the last time.’”

The operation, carried out during Covid restrictions, meant Shaz faced recovery alone on the ward. “The worst bit was that nobody could come to see me,” he said. “You miss your family. I was ready to leave as soon as I could, I was dressed and waiting at two in the morning on the day I was discharged.”

From Mars bars to morning walks

Shaz had run his Newsagents and post office from 5.30am to 9pm, relying on fast food and snacks to get through the day. “My typical breakfast was a bar of chocolate, a packet of crisps and a can of pop,” he admitted. Evening meals were often takeaways, pizzas or curries.

After surgery, doctors warned that unless he changed his lifestyle, a second operation, through the same chest wound, would be much harder and riskier. “They said, ‘We’ve done our job. Your job now is to stay alive as long as you can,’” he said.

At first, he followed their advice strictly, smaller meals cooked by his daughter, a healthier attitude to stress, and efforts to cut back on unhealthy convenience food. But long hours in the shop made it hard to exercise and easy to slip back into old habits. “You get cocky,” he said. “You feel better, you think you’re all right, and you fall back into your old ways.”

Selling up and stepping out

Realising he could not properly look after his health while running the business, Shaz decided to sell the shop. The sale went through in October 2023, when he was 63.

“I’d done it all my life and I thought, I’ve got to get out of this now,” he said. “People talk about retirement as either being bored stiff or wondering how they ever had time to work. I’m somewhere in the middle, but I’m loving it.”

The key to that enjoyment has been walking. Living in Tameside, he discovered a passion for the local countryside. “We live in such a beautiful area,” he said. “There are fantastic walks. It’s helped my health no end. I’ve lost weight, I feel fitter and I eat better.”

Breakfast is now more likely to be overnight oats with blueberries, banana and fig than sugary cereal. He still enjoys curries, drawing on his mixed English and Pakistani heritage, but cooks them with olive oil instead of Ghee and fills his plate with vegetables and lean meat.

Every Sunday he shares a traditional roast with his partner and her mother. “None of that does you any harm,” he said. “It’s the snacking that kills you, the crisps, biscuits, chocolate, all the things that are too easy to grab when you’re busy.”

“Walking is free and it might save your life”

Shaz is determined to use his story to encourage others to change before it is too late. He believes heart checks should be as routine as car MOTs. “Cardiovascular disease is the biggest killer in the world,” he said. “It’s not just an old man’s disease. Everyone should be checked every 12 months.”

He also wants people to understand the role of stress. “Stress thickens your blood and that contributes to heart disease,” he said. “Most of us are stressed with work and life and don’t even realise what it’s doing to us. Regular walking, cycling, swimming, it’s good for your body and your mind.”

Shaz tried joining a gym after retirement but quickly realised it wasn’t for him. “I hated it,” he said. “I felt pressured by all the fit people around me. When you’re out walking, you can do your own thing. I wake up, put my walking gear on and just go. I don’t even know where I’m walking until I leave the house.”

Walking 2,000km for the British Heart Foundation

This year, as the British Heart Foundation marks Heart Month, Shaz has set himself a bold target to walk 2,000 kilometres in 2026 and raise £2,000 for the charity. He has set up an online fundraising page and, with less than 10% of the year gone, has already raised more than £250.

Every day, he shares photos from his walks on Facebook, hills, lanes, fields and the familiar faces of former customers and their dogs. “The customers were never just customers,” he said. “In a small village you build relationships. It’s like extended family. I’m glad I still live here because I bump into people all the time and the dogs remember me too.”

His message for 2026 is simple: “If you’re looking for something positive to do this year, start walking. You don’t know what’s going on in your arteries unless you get checked. Walking is free, it gets you out in the fresh air, and it might just save your life. I’m proof of that.”

If you’d like to support Shaz, the official page is https://www.justgiving.com/page/shaz-naz-2

🔊You can hear the full conversation with Shaz this Thursday evening from 7pm on 103.6FM Tameside Radio

 Around  1 million people are living with cardiovascular disease in the North West of England. 

• Cardiovascular disease causes 1,700 deaths each month in the North West of England.
• Around 280,000 people are living with coronary heart disease in the North West of England.
• Every 26 minutes someone dies from cardiovascular disease in the North West of England.

For more information on Heart Month, visit www.bhf.org.uk