The family of a Stewarton woman who died suddenly from a cardiac arrest have successfully campaigned for the installation of a “life-saving” public defibrillator.
Available in Kilmarnock’s Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church from late last month, the family also had a defibrillator installed in The Centre in Stewarton late last year.
Laura Henderson was 42 when she died as a result of a cardiac arrest in March 2021 while she was out on a run.
Laura’s brother Jason said: “It’s been an incredibly difficult time since she died, but as a family we were keen to do something positive in her memory, so we decided we wanted to install defibrillators around the area she grew up in Stewarton.
“Laura was from Stewarton but attended Our Lady of Mount Carmel primary school in Kilmarnock. Laura spent many years in her younger days with her friends at school, and so there are lots of happy memories here.
“We hope that by providing these defibrillators, we can prevent another family from going through the same heartbreak we have.”
The family partnered with the charity St John Scotland, who help provide medical support to communities, to make this possible and hope to have more public access defibrillators installed around Ayrshire.
Fifty of Laura’s former colleagues at Tennent’s have also participated in their own fundraising efforts by organising a ‘reach for the sky’ challenge to climb stairs, hills, and mountains.
Managing to climb a cumulative 125,000 metres, they raised £2,000 which was doubled by Tennent’s to make a total of £4,000.
The money will be used to fund more public access defibrillators with the help of St John Scotland.
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here