THE sum of £1,000 was raised thanks to a recent ‘Save a Life’ day at Morwenstow.

More than 100 people, both young and old, attended the session on Sunday, January 24, at Morwenstow Community Centre, where they learned about CPR, defibrilliators and first aid.

The event was organised by Sharon Olde, from Morwenstow, who wanted to highlight the importance of first aid knowledge after her son, Brad, had a cardiac arrest last year.

Brad, 21, had been out on his nightly run last May to up his fitness levels, as he was preparing for a fitness test to enable him to go into the Royal Navy.

Brad had stopped breathing, and Mrs Olde described it as a ‘miracle’ that neighbour Wendy Cook saw him collapsed on the road and alerted Sharon’s husband Charlie.?Another neighbour, Will Massingale, a trained coastguard, passed by, and applied CPR. He was able to tell Wendy, who was on the phone to the ambulance service, the severity of Brad’s injury.

Brad was attended by a paramedic crew, luckily in the area at the time, who used a defibrillator, before he was airlifted to hospital.

He was in intensive care for three weeks, in an induced coma, and doctors told Mr and Mrs Olde that he had a hypoxic brain injury.

In the third week he responded to a question asked by the nurse.?He was then able to be moved to a ward in Derriford and had to learn to walk, talk and feed himself again.

He also underwent surgery and has an ICD fitted in case he has any further cardiac arrests.

Brad was in hospital for four months receiving rehabilitation, and was able to return home in September.

The ‘Save a Life’ fundraiser was held in aid of Devon Air Ambulance and Cardiac Risk in the Young (CRY).

Mrs Olde said: “The ‘Save a Life’ day was a huge success. Many had never tried CPR before and surprised to find how deep the compressions had to be administered, others were keen to have a refresher course clearly stating that it should be done yearly.

“A big thank you to Sarah Bryant and Morwenstow FC, who campaigned to get the defibrillator for the community and which is now situated outside the centre in Shop.

“Another big thank you to Tom Melville who connected the box on the day for everyone to see it fitted and lastly for all the volunteers who helped prepare, bake cakes, lifeguards and coastguards who assisted with the dummies, the nurses who took over 100 blood pressures, Charlotte who represented CRY and the local community who came out and supported this event.

“Approximately £978.50 was raised but Sarah and Kingsley wish to add to this amount and make it the round figure of £1,000 — thank you. This amount will be divided between Devon Air Ambulance, who attended Bradley on the day, CRY, Cardiac Risk in the Young inclusive of the Martyn Luckett Trust who help screening for young people.

“But most importantly over 100 people went away with the knowledge of ‘Saving a Person’s Life’.”