Tom Lockyer has had a long and successful career in football, but back in 2023 he suffered atrial fibrillation of the heart during the play off final which put his playing career at risk. He’s since suffered another cardiac arrest on the pitch, and now wants to use his platform to share the importance of defibrillator machines.
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00:00Something I'm really passionate about, actually, yeah, you know, I'm one of the lucky ones
00:08and sadly that's not the case for so many. Like, we were just talking just before we
00:13came on here then and 30,000 people each year will have an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest
00:18and less than one in ten will survive and I was just thinking about them numbers and
00:22I worked it out per day and it's 82 people in the UK each day will have an out-of-hospital
00:27cardiac arrest and if you're going to say less than eight of them will survive, it's
00:32absolutely crazy.
00:35Defibrillator machines like this one behind me can be found all across the country. As
00:39Tom has said, they're lifesavers and they're incredibly easy to use. It can be daunting
00:43thinking about using a machine that administers a shock to a person, but they come with instructions,
00:47999 can talk you through it and Sam says he wants to see more of them in towns, villages
00:52and sporting facilities than anywhere else they can go.
00:57Defibrillators are really clever devices and they're designed to be used by anyone. Anyone
01:00can use them and everyone should have access to one. When someone stops breathing, chances
01:04are they're in cardiac arrest, they need help straight away. Early CPR and early defibrillation
01:10could more than double their chance of survival. So if you call 999, they will tell you what
01:15to do and that will include going to fetch a local public access defibrillator. The 999
01:21call handler will give you all of the instructions that you need, but more than that, the defibrillator
01:26is designed to be used by anyone. So as soon as it's on the scene and switched on, it will
01:30give all the instructions that someone will need.
01:33In an ideal world, we'd have defibs on every corner of every street in the UK and we'd
01:38be one of the safest nations in the world. Obviously, sadly, due to funding, that's not
01:42going to be the case. You know, they are a lot of money because ultimately they save
01:47lives. They're an incredible piece of technology. You know, some people might be scared of them.
01:54It's really not the case. You know, once you open a defib, it will talk you for exactly
01:58what to do, how to use it and how to save someone's life. So, but like I said, the funding
02:03is probably the main bit and that's why it's amazing that Skybet are pledging AED defibs
02:09into local communities, places that need them, places that lack them at the minute.
02:15There are few people in the country more qualified to share the importance of defib machines
02:20and communities around Wales could see so many lives saved with such a simple piece
02:24of kit somewhere close by.
02:26So yeah, it's something I'm really passionate about. We've been really fortunate that Skybet
02:31and the British Heart Foundation have linked up on this one. They've done incredible things
02:35so far. We've got 150,000 people who've learned CPR. We're not done there yet, but you know,
02:43you can do CPR for as long as you want. But unless you get a defib to that person, then,
02:49you know, you'll be doing CPR forever. So that's where this next stage comes in. And
02:53yeah, I'm really excited to be moving on to this next stage.