The pictures of Saturday's traumatic incident, involving Christian Eriksen, sent memories flooding back both personally and of the night that Fabrice Muamba collapsed at White Hart Lane. It provided a stark reminder about the value of life, with pictures of what a cardiac arrest looks like being shown around the world. 

The survival of people who suffer a cardiac arrest, is in no small part down to the brilliant medically trained staff and instant access to equipment (in fact you have a 50% chance of survival, if this happens in the two minutes of the collapse). Sadly though 100,000 people still lose their lives from sudden cardiac arrest in the UK each year, leaving families without loved ones.

This petition is about seeking permanent change by asking the government to action new legislation that makes educating all children in all schools, and all employees in our workforce, on how to deliver CPR and use a defibrillator safely and effectively, a compulsory aspect of yearly training and education. 

Through the work of a number of amazing charities, including heartmyalliance (close to my heart) and with improved location information accessible from heartsafe there’s been a significant increase in awareness and availability of defibrillator access for the public across the UK (it must be said there’s still work to do in this area and there should be a law similar to the one that makes fire extinguishers mandatory, such as having one defibrillator on a site). This petition is an attempt to take the concept of heart restart to local MP’s and the government, to take further steps, to the already amazing work being done and to make positive change, so that everyone feels confident to be able to save a life (at least 33% of UK adults don’t feel equipped to do so). 

As a PE teacher and a survivor from a cardiac arrest, I am passionate about conveying this message across all communities. We are behind other nations, who consider CPR a key aspect of everyone’s knowledge and forms an integral part of training and education across numerous institutions. We must see more sports clubs/facilities, organisations, work places and schools in the UK, have easier access to defibs but critically, ensuring that everyone is trained in CPR and in using a defibrillator, annually, as all of us are accustomed when we carry out our fire evacuation procedures. 

This knowledge, really is the difference in restarting a heart and potentially saving someone’s life. 

Thank you for your support,

Alex Davis