The family and friends of a popular Cardiff man have come together again to walk one million steps in 100 days in a bid to save the lives of others after the dad of four died from a cardiac arrest at only 49 years old.
On July 18, Dave Hill, 49, collapsed in his Fairwater home that he shared with his wife, Debbie and stepson Jack. Jack, 20, performed CPR on his stepdad for 20 minutes until the ambulance arrived.
Dave – also known a Hilly - taught Jack this vital skill by using the Nellie the Elephant song, meaning Jack could give his stepdad the best chance of survival. Amy Williams, Dave’s stepdaughter, said: “While he was doing compressions, all Jack could think about was Dave’s voice singing the Nellie the Elephant song.”
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Dave’s friend of 32 years, Dawn Evans from the Ajuda Foundation, helped his three stepchildren Amy Williams, Cameron Clarke, and Jack Clarke along with his son Nathan Hill to create Hilly’s Heroes: The Restart a Heart project. They wanted to make sure everyone in Cardiff had access to free CPR training.
With the help of Dawn, they began with their first fundraiser, the 50 days for Dave challenge with one goal in mind - bringing free CPR training and defibrillators to the community.
They all individually did various physical challenges including, running 500km, swimming the length of the English Chanel and climbing up Pen Y Fan every day in the 50 days running up to Dave’s 50th Birthday on March 15. In the end Hilly’s Heroes and Ajuda managed to raise £7,876. This money meant they could put defibrillators in local schools as well as placing a memorial bench for Dave.
Since then, they have been inundated with CPR training requests from schools. In only two weeks they have trained over 100 children, and they have 170 more scheduled for training in May.
Dawn, 51, said: “Dave used CPR during his 22-year career as a lifeguard. He and I used to teach people CPR together when we worked in the leisure centre. I know he would be proud of the work we are doing. He was passionate about helping people in this community.
“It’s a massive hole in my life losing a friend of 30 years. I will never see him dancing around my kitchen again - those days are gone. But raising money and saving lives with his wife and kids helps me feel close to him. It keeps his memory alive.”
One Million Steps in 100 days
But the fundraising hasn’t stopped at the 50-day mark. The Ajuda Foundation continues to grow and help legacy community projects in South Wales, like Hilly’s Heroes. Now Ajuda has set off on a new fundraising challenge – one million steps in 100 days.
One million steps in 100 hundred days boils down to 10,000 steps a day. According to Dave’s stepson, Cameron, this challenge is more achievable for a wider group of people compared to the previous fundraiser. He has set up a walking group to go along with the fundraiser, to help those involved feel the community spirit.
“The 50 days for Dave fundraiser and walking up Pen Y Fan daily was great, but it wasn’t accessible for everybody. If Dave were here, although he would have been at the bottom with sandwiches at the ready, cheering us on, doing Pen y Fan daily wouldn’t have achievable,” says Cameron.
“But this is a challenge he would’ve done, whether he was getting his steps in from his golf games or walking around the pub. It also means more of Dave’s friends can get involved and it will give them a kick up the bum to get a bit more active.”
Dawn said: “He would have been motivating the underdogs, the people who thought they couldn’t do it. He probably would’ve enrolled a load of people we wouldn’t see otherwise. He really did give people the belief they didn’t have in themselves.”
The One Million Steps fundraiser will help the Ajuda foundation to continue to help and run various legacy projects in Wales’ like Hilly’s Heroes: The Restart a Heart Project. Money raised will help them give disadvantaged communities, training, education and resources on mental health and well-being support.
The challenge kicks off on June 1 and ends September 8, and is being done via the One Million Steps app, where you can keep track of your progress as well as interact with others taking part. You can find out more information about Hilly’s Heroes: The Restart a Heart Project here.
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