40 for Mitch's 40th!

Mitchell would have turned 40 this September but unfortunately we lost him after suffering a cardiac arrest while playing for local Swansea Senior League side - St Joseph’s in January 2018.

There was no defibrillator available at the playing field, which delivers an electric current to the heart and Mitch sadly died in hospital, this has left a huge void in our lives and we miss him terribly.

Since then we have come a long way with defibrillators being placed over the Swansea area in his name and there is a lot more awareness raised. After Mitchell passed, Friends and family came together not just to help me and my daughter financially but to help get the message out there and realising the importance of these machines. This is when Swansea City Football Club matched funds and initially purchased 15 defibrillators  before pledging to add an additional unit for every goal the team scored until the end of the season, this was in conjunction with the charity at the time Cariad, who are no longer running. 

39.....39 defibrillators in his name!!!... Its taken me a long time to reflect on this but its amazing and I am so grateful. So as I was saying, a total of 39 defibrillators were purchased and placed in the Swansea area with a plaque in Mitchell’s memory placed with every defibrillator. As a family we are honoured and this is something his daughter can be proud of and know this was done for her dad. 

So, here is where I come in. 

I'm Laura, I have been saying for a long time I wanted to challenge myself. As most people know I'm not a very good at running - or should I say a big fan of it. I saw that the Admiral Swansea Bay 10k was on the 15th of September, 4 days after Mitch's 40th Birthday. As soon as I saw the date I knew I had to do it for him. So I have signed up.. This is a big deal for me. I was going to raise money for charity in his name but I feel very strongly towards getting defibrillators out there and when I checked and saw that we had 39 (same age as what he would be now) I thought, as my gift to Mitch I will push myself to get 40 out there to match the big 4 0! 

I'm aiming to raise enough to get a Fully Automatic Defibrillator that caters to adults and children and Locked External Cabinet Package. I will have this placed at a sports venue that needs it with the plaque included number MJ40. 

With that in mind, the more money raised,  the more defibs I will try to get out there in local sports venues that need them. 

I am already so grateful for all of your support over the years. If you can help in any way by donating it will mean so much. 

Defibrillator FACTS. 

If someone has a cardiac arrest, a defibrillator can help restart their heart while you’re waiting for the emergency services to arrive. 

Getting a defibrillator is vital because:  

• there are more than 30,000 out-of-hospital cardiac arrests in the UK each year and currently less than 1 in 10 survive  
• without immediate intervention with a defibrillator, most cardiac arrests are fatal  
• every minute without CPR and a defibrillator, reduces survival chances by up to 10%. 

Thankyou from the bottom of my heart ❤️ 

Laura