Fifteen new community defibrillators will be bought after more than 200 walkers helped raise almost £25,000 for London Ambulance Charity

London Life Hike participants in Battersea Park

Walkers have almost £25,000 for London Ambulance Charity after taking part in its first-ever ‘London Life Hike’.

More than 200 Londoners joined the charity’s inaugural walk with a shared mission to help save lives and improve cardiac arrest survival in the capital for the London Heart Starters campaign. The money will help us buy more public-access defibrillators, with enough cash raised for 15 to now be bought.

Before setting off on their 20km or 5km journeys on Sunday (8th), starting in Battersea Park and taking in many London landmarks, walkers took part in CPR training and other educational activities.

One of the walkers was former London Ambulance Service patient Sue Whitham, 63, who suffered a cardiac arrest on the day her granddaughter Sienna was due to be born. Thanks to the life-saving intervention from her husband Julian and London Ambulance Service crews she survived and took part in the walk with her family and colleague Anthony, raising more than £2,500.

She said: “When I collapsed at home, fortunately my husband Julian knew exactly what to do and he started chest compressions whilst dialling 999 on speaker phone. He carried on CPR until the ambulances crews arrived within minutes.

“We raised money for the walk as a ‘thank you’ to the London Ambulance Service for saving me.”

Head of London Ambulance Charity Jess Burgess said: “Our charity’s inaugural fundraising walk was an important moment for London Ambulance Service as we galvanised Londoners and their families to help us save lives while taking in incredible views of the capital’s iconic landmarks.

“Every year London Ambulance Service crews go to over 14,000 cardiac arrests where a person’s heart has stopped beating and we know that the efforts of our ‘Life Hikers’ will help us save more lives.

“A third of all these patients require the use of a defibrillator – a vital piece of equipment that is incredibly easy to operate and gives people in life-threatening emergencies the best chance of survival when used quickly. Latest figures show that almost one person a week is saved by a bystander using a defibrillator kept in a public place in the community.

“London Heart Starters is a new pioneering fundraising campaign led by our charity to raise money to buy these life-saving devices and ensure they can be used in the communities where they are most needed and improve survival rates.”

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