A group of Luton Town cyclists have completed their 28km ride from Kenilworth Road to Stevenage’s Lamex Stadium as part of the Sky Bet EFL Every Minute Matters Relay.
Club secretary Chris Clark, super cycling supporter Mark Crowther, sisters Sam and Joanne Ewington and Daniel Coyle, from our parners Ryebridge, took on the challenge to inspire fellow football fans to donate 15-minutes of their time and learn CPR with the British Heart Foundation's RevivR tool.
All 72 clubs in the EFL have a leg in a 4,000km relay route that will see participants run, walk and cycle between 72 stadiums on the way to the finish line at Wembley on April 21st.
Football legends, celebrities and real-life heroes are taking part, with the likes of Sam Allardyce, Jack Wilshere, Glenn Hoddle and our own club captain Tom Lockyer joining forces in the name of learning CPR.
Locks was over at the Kenny to see the fantastic five Hatters off on their way to Stevenage this lunchtime, and he got chance to speak to Sam and her son Cade, who was just 11 when he had a cardiac arrest while on a swimming lesson with his school.
Now 19, Cade has an ICD fitted like Locks, who took part in an emotional interview with BBC Three Counties Radio’s Justin Dealey and the family, which you can listen to by clicking HERE.
“My son was 11 when he had a cardiac arrest in a swimming pool and the lifeguards performed CPR on him, which saved his life,” said Sam. “I’m the same as Tom, if everyone could learn CPR, you just never know where you might be and that one time you might need it.”
An emotional Locks said: “I used to be quite numb to it when it happened to me, but when I hear it now, I’ve got a daughter myself…sorry…it kind of hits home a little bit more now. It’s brilliant what happened, and as Sam said, he’s doing really well now, which is brilliant.”
Justin then introduced our Welshman to Cade, who said: “I’m the luckiest it gets. It happened to me, and if it wasn’t for the woman who saved me, I wouldn’t be here. Tom is another example.
"It’s the most important thing. The power to feel you can save someone’s life is amazing. The more people that do it, the better it is. I’m so happy to be here and so proud of my mum as well. It’s a great cause.”
Locks added: “I’m not an emotional person, but when you hear these stories, it does hit home. Like I have said throughout this campaign, please, please, please don’t be the person who regrets not doing it. It takes 15 minutes.
“All you need to do is log on to the British Heart Foundation website and search RevivR. I hope you never have to use it, but the reality is that 30,000 people each year will have an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest and the chance of surviving is less than one in ten of them – 82 people a day in the UK alone, less than eight will survive.
“Those numbers are staggering to me and I’m sure they are to you as well. Why you wouldn’t learn CPR now after hearing that is beyond me. Some people will hear this and still not do it. Please don’t put yourself in a position where potentially you’ll regret it.”
The Relay is the latest phase of Sky Bet’s Every Minute Matters campaign with the British Heart Foundation (BHF).
The partnership began in May last year and set out to encourage 270,000 football fans to begin learning CPR and raise up to £3million towards the BHF’s vital research.
You can show your support by donating just 15 minutes of your time to learn CPR using the BHF’s online tool RevivR.
