Residents and visitors living in the vicinity of Trent Bridge and in The Meadows can feel safer and reassured thanks to the installation of two new defibrillators donated by DOrunning CIC following their fundraising efforts.
DOrunning, which hosts free-to-join running sessions in the area started the fundraising campaign in September 2021 when founder Des Oldham felt compelled to take action.
In April 2018, the DOrunning community was rocked by the sudden cardiac arrest of member James Laverty at one of their weekly sessions. James, who was 25 at the time and had no history of such medical conditions, made a full recovery following treatment and the fitting of an internal defibrillator at Nottingham City Hospital.
While James is now doing well, his experience along with similar, high-profile cases including footballer Christian Eriksen and the tragic passing of local teenager, Dylan Rich, served a stark reminder that incidents such as this can happen to anyone, at any time.
With the target set at £5,000 – enough to purchase two fixed defibrillator units and one mobile device, Des and the members of DOrunning got straight into action to raise the funds.
During the six-week campaign, the group ran a total of 459 miles on Nottingham Forest match days – matching the distance from each opponent’s football ground to the City Ground, held bucket collections, a raffle and a fundraising gala at the Boot Room Bar in Pavilion Road.
The group also supported the Notts County Foundation’s Community Day as part of the campaign and make a further donation to their charity.
Thanks to the commitment and efforts of all involved, a final total of £5,509.24 was raised – enough for the group to also provide significant contributions to Defib for Grassroots Football and Football for Defibs.
The two fixed units are now in place, one at the Boot Room Bar near the Nottingham Forest City Ground and the second donated to the Notts County Foundation which is outside the Portland Centre in The Meadows and was kindly installed by Nottingham City Homes. Both locations are popular with activity enthusiast and regularly attract thousands of sports fans on match days.
Once commissioned, the mobile unit will be available for local sports and community groups to book and use free of charge at their events. Arrangements have also been made to offer First Aid and defibrillator training to members of the running club and those living near the new units.
Des Oldham, Founder of DOrunning CIC said: “When we set about this campaign, we knew raising the funds wasn’t going to be easy, but we felt really strongly that we wanted to take action.
“Ever since James suffered a cardiac arrest at the running group I have always wanted to make sure we are in the best possible position should it happen again! Encouraging activity and participation in the way we do, we want to make sure that those in our area have 24 hour access to a facility that could save lives.
“I’m really proud of our collective efforts and it gives me great pleasure to see the units in place, knowing they’re there thanks to the hard work from DOrunning CIC.”
