Suddenly Gone

I’ve wondered whether or not to publish this post for some time. It’s about a subject that’s very important to me – and that’s why I’ve hesitated. Let rip in the comments if you will (free speech an’ all) but I’m going to do it anyway. It’s spuriously about travel – but it is important and it can save lives.

Sudden Death in Adults

Broken Heart by CarbonNYC

Death isn’t something that most of us like to think about, particularly when we’re young. Sadly, that doesn’t make any difference. Around 500 young people die every year in Britain for no clear reason from an adult form of “cot death.” Cardiac arrhythmias (strange heartbeat patterns) are thought to cause most of these deaths. I’m not here to frighten you because there are things that you can do.

Number One – Learn CPR.

Learn it, learn it, learn it – and then keep on practising and refreshing your skills. I’ve said it before but I’ll say it again: it’s most likely to be someone you love who collapses in front of you with a cardiac arrest. Scientific studies show that effective CPR doubles that person’s chance of survival. Please, please, please learn how to do it. If you live in the UK, the British Heart Foundation and St John’s Ambulance run courses. I’m happy to be updated about courses elsewhere.

Number Two – Support a Relevant Charity

Here’s where it gets more personal.

Long term fans of this blog may remember that I wrote a post about visiting the Peak District based on a HAG (combined Bachelor and Bachelorette party) that I went to for a very close friend of mine.

Suddenly Gone

His name was Leigh Jepson, a wonderfully caring doctor with a searing sense of humour and a great love for the outdoors and travel. He’d cycled across America, climbed Mont Blanc and took disabled children skiing. He also worked umpteen antisocial hours a week in his local Emergency Department and had entered into the Paris Marathon the previous day.

He died without warning on September 21^st.  Aged 32. Now a group of his (far more unfit) friends plan to run the Paris Marathon in his honour, to raise money for charities that suit both his life and death.

How You Can Help

Floating Heart - By Nganguyen

1)      Learn CPR– Please.Learn it, learn it, learn it. There really is no excuse – and no substitute.

2)      Share this blog post

– tweet it, facebook it, link to it, email it, please just spread the word.

3)      If you’d like to make a donation

– please visit http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/RunningForLeigh. Anything you give will be greatly appreciated and will help.

If you’ve read this far – thank you.

I know how precious your time is and how many good causes crowd in on you all the time. If you can’t afford to donate and you don’t want to forward this post, please at least consider learning how to do CPR.

Thanks for reading, folks.

Read the postscript to this blog post here.