Mansfield Woodhouse man launches fundraiser to buy defibrillator for community

An AED (Automated External Defibrillator) can be used to give the heart an electric shock when it has stopped beating normally in a sudden cardiac arrest.

Every minute that goes by without using a defibrillator reduces the chances of survival by ten per cent.

And using a defbrillator within three minutes of a cardiac arrest can improve a person’s chances of survival by as much as 70 per cent, St John Ambulance says.

But at the moment, the nearest defibrillator for anyone in need in Mansfield Woodhouse is a 16-minute round trip away in Mansfield, Darren Jackson’s niece discovered while completing her homework.

Now Darren is fundraising for an AED in Mansfield Woodhouse, and will be having his head shaved if he can reach his target.

"One of my nieces was sitting down doing some homework and one of her assignments was to find out where the nearest automated external defibrillator unit was and she found out that it was actually in Mansfield, and I thought that was ridiculous because it is a long, long way away for someone when they are on the floor suffering really badly,” he said.

"At that point, once we had found that out, that is when I decided I wanted to do something about it and the whole thing felt like a great idea."

And Darren, who confessed to currently looking like a ‘young Michael Jackson’, added: “Obviously with lockdown there has been a lot of time to think, as I’ve been furloughed since the beginning of March, and I felt a little bit uncomfortable going out to get a haircut and so I have left it and it has just been getting longer and longer and longer and so I jokingly said to my wife, ‘I think I might cut it off for a cause’.

Darren has currently raised £495 of his £2,000 target, which would pay for the automated external defibrillator, a heated weatherproof enclosure, and help to train 20 people from the area to use the life-saving equipment.

Darren, head of lighting for a lighting manufacturer, said: “I also have hypertension myself, so I was conscious I would be a likely candidate to need one of these machines and I thought if I could possibly need it there could be 20,000 other people in Mansfield Woodhouse that may need one.

"I have always done bits and pieces for charity over the years and my wife and I are both foster carers and last year we went on a social services first aid course where they showed us how to use a defibrillation unit and it is not until you get your hands on it and start playing with it that you realise how much of a massive life saver they can be.”

Once he reaches his target, Darren will lop off his luscious lockdown locks for the cause, but will continue to try and teach people in the Mansfield Woodhouse community how to use the live-saving equipment.

He added: "It is important to have the unit but as important to have people in the vicinity that are capable of using it as well.

"What we will probably do after we raise the money is start running courses on how to use it ourselves.”

The managers of the Park Hall Convenience Store and Post Office on Park Hall Road have also agreed to house the defibrillator at the their location.

Darren said: “They have very kindly offered to put this on the front of their store, which is a great central point because it is just around the corner from The Manor Sport Centre and the large Manor school.

“They are also going to pick up the running costs of the machine as far as the electric is concerned.”

To support Darren’s fundraiser visit www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/darren-jackson-aed-for-mansfieldwoodhouse-fund?utm_term=2Y5g8GDnD.