Suddenly and without warning my husband, Taz Asghar, collapsed on 24th May 2021 with a sudden heart attack, leaving myself a widow and my 2 children age 9 and 4 without a father as well as his 2 older kids.

After calling 999, I tried to do CPR, my sister-in-law tried CPR and then the paramedics tried to revive him for a long time but sadly my husband was pronounced dead a short time later.

Whilst waiting for the ambulance, my only thoughts were that I wish we had a defibrillator nearby. I cannot explain the feeling of absolute helplessness when someone you love needs help and there isn’t anything more that you can do. I can’t help but think, after seeing Christian Erickson collapsing during a football game and being brought back to life using a defib, that if I would have had one nearby that there would have been a chance that Taz would still be here now.

My brother Alex Greenaway and his friend Donna Cunningham came up with an amazing idea in that some family members and friends should raise money for defibrillators by doing a sponsored hill climb Ben Nevis later on 21st August to buy a few defibrillators to locate in local communities (Drumpellier Lawns and hopefully more areas of money allows) so it gives people a chance to get to a defibrillator if needed. Even if the defibrillator doesn’t give the wanted outcome it would give people peace of mind knowing that they done their absolute best to save a life.

Around 3,500 people undergo attempted resuscitation each year in Scotland after an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest, but currently only around 1 in 12 survive. Using a defibrillator alongside CPR can greatly increase survival rates, but to be most effective, a defibrillator needs to be used as soon as possible. That's why working to increase access to the life-saving devices in our local community is so important and so they are available to be used 24/7 in an emergency.

If you would like to join our hill climb to raise money for a defibrillator for your own community, please get in touch and we can provide more information and we can all do it together. The more communities that have access to them the better.

Please give a donation if you are able to.

Thank you x