Guernsey resident Charlie Denton is competing in the Hever Castle Triathlon on 29th September to raise funds for St John Ambulance Guernsey and the Cardiac Action Group. His fundraising target is £999.
Earlier this year Charlie’s dad Rick suffered a cardiac arrest in the coffee shop at Les Cotils. Two St John trained members of the public who were in the café at the time and the St John Training manager, who was in a nearby office, came to his aid. Rick was given CPR and shocked with an AED (Automated External Defibrillator) and had regained consciousness before the emergency ambulance crew arrived.
Charlie, 24, is hoping by taking part in his first Triathlon he will not only raise money to support the work of St John and the Cardiac Action Group, but also raise awareness of the importance of learning CPR and how to use an AED.
Charlie says: “The reality is my Dad is one of the few to survive an out of hospital cardiac arrest. But we can do so much with relatively little to improve the odds of survival for people in my Dad’s situation. So even though I might be in a lot of pain during this triathlon, I’ll be happy throughout knowing that I’m raising money to help reduce the risk of death from cardiac arrest in Guernsey.”
(Photos: Rick Denton pictured earlier this year with some of the people who came to his aid when he suffered a cardiac arrest)