Woman from King's Lynn cashes in birthday money on defibrillators
A 60-year-old woman from North Lynn has cashed in her birthday money on an item to benefit the entire community.
Jean English, who swapped her birthday party for a charity night, managed to raise £1,540 to buy a community defibrillator.
She said: “I wanted to spend my birthday money on something meaningful, a good cause. My husband’s life was saved by a defibrillator and that’s why I wanted to buy one.
“On my birthdays, I am usually given flowers, wine, and other types of presents. But I just asked for donations and I received a lot more than I was expecting.
“I wouldn’t usually receive this amount of money, but because it was for charity, I think everybody just put in a bit more money than usual.”
Mrs English’s defibrillator has been installed outside the Carousel Café on St Nicholas Retail Park in Lynn, and is now ready for use 24 hours a day.
The life-saving device sends a high energy shock through the chest wall to the heart of someone who is in cardiac arrest.
“If my defibrillator manages to save at least one person’s life than I will be more than happy,” said Mrs English.
“They are wonderful pieces of equipment. There is one near the bus station and we were originally thinking about putting this one in town.
“But with it being on St Nicholas Retail Park, it is more spaced out and this defibrillator can serve a wider range of people as well.
“A lot of people and elderly people especially use St Nicholas Retail Park for its discounted and charity shops.
“And staff say there has been a number of times when elderly people have fallen ill while in their shops. We just hope this is a good site for it.”
Mrs English said she was also gifted a broken defibrillator from Morrisons which her and her husband sent off to be fixed.
Now it is back in working condition, Mrs English has donated it to NatWest, in Lynn’s Tuesday Market Place, where it will be unveiled later this month.
She said: “I am delighted to have been able to buy my defibrillator outside the Carousel Café in St Nicholas Retail Park, and to now also have one going up in Tuesday Market Place. It is wonderful.
“If everybody did something similar to this and raised money for a good cause on one of their birthdays, we would be able to save so many lives and help so many people.”
