My mum, Bev Juckes, sadly passed away due to a sudden cardiac arrest at her home just days before. Huge efforts were made to resuscitate my mum through CPR from my dad, their neighbour and paramedics but unfortunately following a few days spent in the ITU she passed peacefully, surrounded by family and loved ones. 

Mum had an episode of ventricular fibrillation, a life-threatening heart rhythm which can only be corrected through timely defibrillation which sadly where my parents live there are no easily accessible defibrillators to use. 

My brother, Lewis Juckes, also sadly passed away August 2021. He passed away from a cardiac arrest following a seven week stay in the ITU battling with Covid-19. My brother had pulseless electrical activity which meant that a defibrillator could not save him. However, in most cases, timely defibrillation can increase survival rates from 10% to between 50% and 70%. 

This brings us to why we would like any donations, big or small, to help us fund a defibrillator and have this installed in the local community so that we can hopefully prevent what happened to my mum and my brother happening to someone else’s friend, family or loved one. I hope that, despite all this sadness, both my mum’s and brother’s legacy will be helping to save other lives in our local community.

Liam and family