Craig Horsman from Wallsend has been fundraising in order to install several defibrillators in Wallsend after he noticed a trend of people suffering heart attacks in public where medical attention of that kind wasn't available.
Craig, 38, began his charitable efforts back in March when he got together a team of four and they each ran 100 miles to raise money towards installing the first defibrillator in his local area of Wallsend.
"I'm a season ticket holder at St James' Park and a huge sports fan and I had noticed a lot of instances where people were collapsing at matches, including an incident at St James' Park. There was also a separate incident where a lad passed away after collapsing outside the stadium. I thought to myself, this is something I can help with and do something about", he said.
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This fundraising proved to be very successful and a defibrillator was installed in Wallsend Comrades Club. Just weeks after the first defibrillator was put in place, Craig's Uncle Michael Robson sadly passed away on the 25th of April, aged 60, after suffering a heart attack in a place where a defibrillator was not readily available.
A second defibrillator was put into Shooting Stars Children's Nursery in May and soon after this, on the 26th of June, Craig's father Ken Horsman died in similar circumstances and these awful tragedies strengthened his resolve when it comes to raising as much money as possible to install defibrillators all around Wallsend.
"It was so strange, just purely coincidentally these two awful things happened that linked to what we were trying to do. They made me even more focused when it came to fundraising as I wanted to try to stop this from happening to anyone else in the area", he said.
On December 1, what would have been his dad's 60th birthday, Craig did a fitness challenge to raise money and also to commemorate his father. He continued his efforts by setting up a charity night with his sister Zoe, which took place on December 16.
They got local businesses together and booked a Madness tribute band due to their dad's love of the English ska group. Overall, this event raised over £3,500 and has funded at least three more defibrillators that will be put up around Wallsend by the end of January. Here are all the current and upcoming locations of the defibrillators in Wallsend:
- Wallsend Comrades Club
- Shooting Stars Children's Nursery in Wallsend
- Asylum Tattoo Studio in Wallsend
- Fitness Rooms in Benton industrial estate opposite Asda
- Dinnington First School in Newcastle
"People have asked if I am worried about my own health after what happened to my dad and uncle but I'm more worried that it can happen to anyone at any time. If I can help anyone with this then I've made a difference. The deaths in my family have really driven me to prevent others feeling the same heartbreak that I felt."
"I'm really happy with what we've done so far and we want to have five defibrillators installed around Wallsend by the end of January. Hopefully we'll be able to get a sixth going soon enough and we are keeping money to the side for the maintenance of the ones we have up currently. Its great that I can honour my dad and uncle's memory in this way."
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