Defibrillator fundraise

In October 2023 I left Keynsham high-street at approximately midnight to head towards a friends house in Somerdale.

On the way down I found a male laying on the grass at the entrance to the site, initially I assumed he was asleep on the grass so I went over to wake him up. He was unresponsive..

I checked his pockets and body for any information Inc medical tags that could explain why he was unconscious and found nothing.

I rang 999 immediately and began to follow their instructions, he was in cardiac arrest.

I screamed for help as there was no defibrillator near me, a couple stopped as I was screaming and crying for their help and sadly they left the scene.

Thankfully moments later a group of men stopped and helped as I wasn’t strong enough to continue chest compressions on my own.

This was the scariest situation I’ve ever been in, the ambulance and police crew were there within minutes and were amazing.

Had I not completed Defibrlator training with my local council only a few weeks before this situation could have been completely different, the ambulance driver told me I saved his life, but to this day I’m not sure what happened to him after.

I’ve not publicly wanted to share this story yet since I don’t feel it’s my story to tell, but I feel I have to bring attention to the importance of understanding what to do in this situation, including having 24hr accessible defibs everywhere.

I couldn’t get a defib that night, but this year I’m hoping to raise funds to put one in the location that this incident happened.

The funds will cover a defibrillator, the external casing, a bleed kit and an anaphylaxis kit. Should I exceed the goal I’m hoping to hold a session where anyone who’s been in this situation can come together and talk about their experience, it’s not something I knew how to deal with. As a general member of the public there’s no support to deal with the aftermath of it.

In April I’ll be climbing Pen-Y-Fan with a group of friends and family, I ask that if you could please support this cause every donation will help my goal.

Thank you very much for reading!