'Important To Know Where Your Local Defib Is!'
A South Wales PE teacher whose mum died from a heart attack whilst on holiday in Cuba is on a mission.
Last updated 15th Aug 2021
Emma Lewis lost her mother, Maria, when she was 52 and is now raising awareness about getting defibrillators installed in sports facilities.
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Emma who plays hockey for Wales and lives in Neath said: “There were some doctors on call who were there to help mum initially, but they couldn’t save her unfortunately.” “The hotel didn’t have a defib and I just wonder whether a defib could have helped mum.”
“If we can get as many defibs as we can in different facilities, the pain that we went through when losing my mum, other families won’t have to do that, and that’s super important for us.”
Each year, there are over 100,000 people admitted to hospital due to heart attacks, which is roughly one person every five minutes.
After raising money to install a defibrillator at CrossFit Llanelli, Emma now wants to spread the message and help other places install the lifesaving equipment too.
She said: “The importance of them is invaluable, they’re easy to use, they’re fool proof if anything. They talk you through it. If anyone’s ever worried about using a defib, there’s no need to worry. We’re just grateful we’ve got one by our facility now and it’s there for the whole community to use. Because you could be walking the dog and fall poorly, so it’s important to know where your local defib is.”
She spoke about how 'tough' the loss of her mum was and added: “I still get welled up about it now, I’m one of four, I went to being a sister to four girls to effectively being a mum to my sisters. But you kind of go into fight or flight, and for me it was fight. We gave her the best send-off we could, and we got her home eventually, and we’re just trying to make her legacy live on”.