A young footballer who suffered a heart attack on the pitch has now made the call for more clubs to have defibrillators on site after the death of another player during a cup game at Brighouse Town FC’s stadium recently.

Lee Orton, 33, has said that there are still many smaller clubs that do not currently have these life-saving devices in the near vicinity, because they can cost up to £1,000, the BBC reports. Mr Orton now runs Goals 4 Hearts, a Huddersfield-based charity that helps raise money for first aid training and life-saving defibrillators for schools and amateur sports teams.

Emphasising just how important defibrillators are, Mr Orton was quoted by the news source as saying: “Without one, a person’s chances of survival decreases by 15 per cent each minute. It can make all the difference.”

He himself survived a heart attack while playing for Aimbry in the Huddersfield District League back in 2013 and has since then supplied the defibrillator that the club now uses.

Cardiac arrests impact millions of people around the world each year, including up to 15 young people each week in the UK. Such statistics should really be all you need to read to realise just how important it is to have a defibrillator to hand if a serious incident does occur. Make sure you carry out a risk assessment at work to see if such a device should be on your premises at all times and get in touch with us if you need help with defibrillator training in the future.