On the 20th December 2010, our daughter Charlotte sadly passed away with a heart condition called Sudden Arrhythmic Death Syndrome (SADS). Sadly 12 or more children die of this silent killer every week, and most of these parents will be unaware their children have a condition at all.

The best way to make young people with heart conditions safe is to have a defibrillator accessible in the event of a cardiac arrest. They are the only way to shock the heart back into a normal rhythm - Fabrice Muamba's life was recently saved this way.

After Charlotte's death we had our son Carrick screened and discovered that he has a heart condition so before visiting the new Abbey Stadium Leisure Centre in Redditch I called to check that they have a defibrillator and was horrified to learn that they didn't. 

The newly built Abbey Stadium apparently cost £6.5 million pound to build, it costs £1000 to install a defibrillator and train staff about how to use it, isn't this small cost worth it to protect people while they are on these premises?

Thanks to your support the Abbey stadium now has 2 as well as the RSA Arrowvale gym has 1 and Kingsley College Gym have 1.

After doing some research we have found that there are almost no government buildings, leisure centres, gymnasiums, youth establishments or schools in Redditch that have defibrillators, which I find very disturbing considering that they are a life-saving piece of equipment.

Redditch council - unlike neighbouring councils Birmingham City Council and Worcester City Council - has in the past not felt it necessary to have defibrillators installed to safeguard anyone using there buildings.

So now we call on all the good people of Redditch and neighbouring towns and cities who are thinking of coming to this town - wouldn't you feel better if you were protected if you had a heart condition by knowing there is a defibrillator near by to give you the best chance of survival?

PLEASE sign this petition to help us protect our families, friends and loved ones by getting Redditch Borough Council to make it mandatory for all Council buildings, including leisure centres and youth establishments to have a defibrillator on site.

The UK Resuscitation Council suggests a defibrillator should be used within 5 minutes of cardiac arrest, given that the average response time for the ambulance service is 8 minutes.

Please sign and share.Thank you so much for your time and help it is very much appreciated.

If anyone would like further information about SADS please go to http://sadsuk.org.uk/newsite/

Or keep up to date with our campaign on Facebook:  http://www.facebook.com/RedditchHeartSafe

PLEASE also go to our national petition to make it law that defibrillators are instantly installed in all schools https://www.change.org/petitions/sads-uk-big-shock-campaign-schools-must-have-defibrillators.

Much love to you all

Robert & Maggie x