On January the 3rd of this year I suffered a cardiac arrest, despite no reported problems with my heart previously (I’m only 39!). I was taken to hospital where I was put in an induced coma. There’s no doubt that my girlfriend saved my life, managing to perform CPR for nine minutes until the ambulance arrived. After two and a half weeks I awoke in intensive care at the Royal Stoke Hospital, where I recovered. I was discharged at the end of January, with an ICD fitted.
The level of care I received was second to none throughout the whole process, and once home my girlfriend found an article in the Telegraph about CharityCar.co.uk and the numerous charities it can help to support. Upon seeing that CRY was one of the charities and reading their brief, we both realised this was a unique opportunity to help a charity that supports similarly-afflicted people, especially as in the hospital I was told that this can happen to younger people than me.
The idea of CharityCar.co.uk is brilliant, as although it’s possible to try and sell a car to commercial dealers in order to make money, personally it is such a worthwhile endeavour to know that you can donate to charity this way. As a cardiac arrest victim, I can’t drive for 6 months anyway, so it’s great to know there’s a practical way in which charities can benefit from the sale of a car.
I’m immensely pleased that over £1000 was raised for CRY, simply from donating my car, and I would urge other people to do the same.
Richard
