A charity that aims to put lifesaving defibrillators in schools across Nottinghamshire has found another beneficiary.

Kirkby-based Leon’s Legacy was launched in memory of Leon Smith, who died a year ago aged 52 after suffering a cardiac arrest while working as a lunchtime supervisor at Annesley Primary School.

The charity wants to ensure that lifesaving equipment is available at schools should a similar tragedy arise.

A Leon’s Legacy defibrillator was recently installed at Mapplewells Primary and Nursery School, Sutton — the 20th defibrillator since the campaign began.

Leon’s daughter, Holly Younger, a cardiac nurse at King’s Mill Hospital, Sutton, presented the school with the equipment.

Holly, chairperson of Leon’s Legacy, explained: “We started Leon’s Legacy after we lost our dad. He had a cardiac arrest at Annesley Primary School and although the staff were amazing and did everything they should, including CPR and going to get a defibrillator, things weren’t meant to be.

“We have no idea if things would have been different if they’d had a defibrillator on site, but we felt it would improve the chances for others.

“So we started fundraising for a defibrillator for the Annesley school and ended up with more money than we needed.
That’s when we decided we were just going to keep spreading the love.

“Since then it’s gone a bit mad. We never thought we would end up with this many defibs — 20!”

Shelley Christie, extended services leader and founder/trustee of the Friends of Mapplewells group at the school said: “When our group heard about the opportunity to install a defibrillator at the school, we jumped at it. We also decided to use money raised throughout the year at various school events to donate £200 to the cause.”

Shelley said that the whole community helped to raise the money by supporting school events, and that the whole community will benefit from having a local defibrillator.

She added: “We are delighted and extremely grateful to Holly and her team for their kind donation of our defibrillator in honour of her dad, Leon.

“Mapplewells takes great pride and is renowned for the community events we hold throughout the year and as we have large number of adults and children on site at one time, this equipment will bring peace of mind should the worst happen.

“It is also available to the whole community.”
Shelley said the chances of survival after a cardiac arrest were increased dramatically by using a defibrillator.

“This is a gift for the whole community who now have access to this lifesaving equipment. We want to thank Holly and her team for donating the defibrillator to the school, and we wish them well raising money for further equipment.”

Each defibrillator costs £505 and has step by step instructions for use. All of the defibrillators are registered to the ambulance service so the public can be directed to their location.

Now Holly is looking to raise more money through a hockey tournament and the Leon’s Legacy group still has places in the Great Birmingham Run (a half-marathon), should anyone want to be sponsored to take part.

Leon’s Legacy can be found on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.