A campaign has been launched to raise enough money to install a defibrillator in Leek after a local man died from a sudden cardiac arrest aged just 45.

Local resident Daniel Hyde has teamed up with the Staffordshire charity AED Donate with the aim of getting a defibrillator installed in the Westwood area of Leek.

Dan launched the campaign in memory of his friend James Lockett, a Leek man who died in 2020 due to a sudden cardiac arrest.

So far £873 has been raised towards the defibrillator, with the amount required to get it installed being £2,000.

Dan said: "James, known as Jim and Locko, lived on Lorien Close, Leek, and passed away suddenly on November 18th, 2020 aged just 45.

"100,000 people a year die from Sudden Cardiac Arrest (SCA), 620 of these are people under the age of 35 and 270 of these deaths happen to children within schools. If defibrillation takes place within the first three minutes of an SCA, the patient's chances of survival increase by upwards of 80%.

"Following on from the great work of Dave Swarbrook [another local resident who has worked to get defibrillators installed around the town], I noticed there was no defibrillator to cover the Westwood area of Leek and that the nearest one is at The Bowling Club or The Prince of Wales Pub, so we want to change this and make sure that more people are covered and protected. The new defibrillator will have 24-hour access to the public and will be sited on the wall/gate of my house on Westwood Park Drive, Leek.

"Having the defibrillator installed means that it can be deployed in a bid to give the patient the all-important shock to the heart prior to the ambulance arrival. The defibrillator is by no means a replacement to the ambulance service, it just allows patient treatment to commence immediately."

If you would like to contribute to the fundraiser, please visit the fundraising page on the AED Donate website by clicking here.