I'm running the 2019 Cardiff Bay Run on Sunday 31st March.

Someone had a cardiac arrest at my local parkrun last year & that person survived due to immediate CPR and defibrillator use by myself, Laurie & two other healthcare professionals who happened to be there. After a long stay in hospital, with big operations, we have since met that person and spoken to him and seen what an amazing outcome can be achieved with these immediate actions. 

It got me thinking - every parkrun has a defibrillator in the UK but there is no mandatory first aid training. I have set up a collaboration between parkrun Cymru, BHFCymru & a bunch of enthusiastic junior doctors to provide free CPR teaching to any parkrunner/volunteer/kids who run that wants to learn. 

This would not be possible without the support of the British Heart Foundation who provide the manikins, venues and also do lots of other crucial work regarding getting CPR teaching on school curriculums etc. 

Working in hospitals, unfortunately we often seen people with out of hospital cardiac who haven’t had bystander CPR for whatever reason, and the outcomes are often considerably less favourable! It was honestly an honour to meet this person and see the results of these actions which anyone can learn to perform and maybe save somebody’s mum/dad/husband/wife/son/daughter one day! 

Please help me and BHFCymru continue to provide these free sessions all run by volunteers. 

I know it’s a small ish distance race for some, but my mum who I’m running with has never run 10k before - got into parkrun a couple of years ago & we competitively compare times each week! She was there that day at parkrun last year, visiting us in Wales & had never come across anything like that before - very scary for some, if you’ve not dealt with it previously. She therefore knows how close to my heart this project is.

 I’ve promised to run with her as long as she doesn’t sprint ahead of me at the end - a real possibility! Any small donation would be hugely helpful to motivate us for this worthy cause!

Thanks

Katie & Jenny