Campaigner Mark King calls on Liverpool businesses to spend 85p a day to help save lives

Campaigner Mark King has called on companies across the city to install defibrillators, and he says it will cost them just 85 pence a day to save lives!

Businesses can get a defibrillator from the Oliver King Foundation, set up by Mark and his wife Joanne after the sudden death of their 12-year-old son in 2011, for a donation of £1,500.

Mark said:

“That includes the defibrillator itself and training for around 12 members of staff.”

“The defibrillators are guaranteed for about eight years, which makes it around 85p a day- which is nothing when you think about the lives it could save.”

He added:

“Companies have a duty of care for the people who work for them, to look after them. Who knows how many people businesses across Liverpool could have working for them with unknown heart conditions, ticking time bombs that could see them having a sudden cardiac arrest?

“I’d like to see defibrillators in as many workplaces as possible in the city – and beyond – because it’s the difference between a life being lost, and a life being saved.

“It’s crazy, in this day and age, to think that people are dying unnecessarily. It shouldn’t be happening, and it’s frustrating and it’s heartbreaking.”

Mark, who was last year awarded the OBE for services to charity, founded the foundation in January 2012, less than a year after the death of his son, who suffered a cardiac arrest while taking part in a school swimming competition.

He made it his mission to prevent other families going through what he and his family has, and pledged to raise awareness of Sudden Arrhythmic Death Syndrome, which caused sports-loving Oliver to lose his life, and raise money to install thousands of defibrillators in public spaces and train people in life-saving CPR techniques to ensure schools and organisations could respond to cardiac emergencies.

Mark – who was also awarded The Guide Liverpool’s Inspiration Award at The Guide Liverpool’s HEROES 2025 ceremony – has already made a massive difference. All schools now have defibrillators, and the foundation itself has handed out more than 7,000 defibrillators and trained more than 170,000 people. And it’s saved 86+ lives.

Just back from a trip to East Sussex, where he personally handed over defibs to a surveying company, Mark continued:

“We need to see more companies follow suit.

“82 people will have a cardiac arrest today, and only eight will survive, because of a lack of defibs.

“We are about 20 years behind other countries in this, and we need to get better. We have installed defibrillators in some solicitors’ firms in Merseyside, but we’d like to see more.”

Mark fulfils the first aim of the foundation every day, raising awareness of SADS the length and breadth of the country.

He added:

“Government statistics show 12 young people lose their lives to it every day- and they’re old figures, I suspect it’s higher now. I’m just dad, but I don’t want any other parent going through what we’ve been through.”

The second goal is to ensure that every child at 14 is given a 12-pad ECG test to check that their heart’s okay and get a certificate to say they can carry on living a normal life.

As part of that, Mark is planning to open an ECG testing centre opposite Alder Hey Hospital, which will offer heart screenings to young people, ensuring those early signs of heart conditions are detected.

Close, hopefully, to being given the green light, it will not only do that but also act as a health and community centre, offering help and support to people who have had a cardiac arrest or surgical intervention for heart conditions.

Mark commented:

“That’s because it messes with your mental health. Patients get given exercise and diet plans – but they’re too afraid to leave the house.

“We’ll have cardiac nurses, and we’ll help to pick people back up; we’ll get them on bikes and walking machines, we’ll have a walk on the prom, and we’ll get people living again!”

His third goal is to see legislation calling for defibrillators to be installed in public buildings wherever there is a fire extinguisher.

Mark said:

“He was such a caring lad, and he never let us down -so we’ll never let him down.

“I’m passionate about what I, and we, do because I look at the lives that have already been saved.

“The centre will be major step towards creating a safer, healthier future for all young people, by helping to detect and prevent cardiac issues before they lead to tragedy.

“It cost us dearly, but we’ll carry on for Ollie. That’s why I’m asking businesses to do their bit too. Save lives that don’t need to be lost.”

Companies wanting to find out more can email The Oliver King Foundation at info@theoliverkingfoundation.co.uk and if they want to go ahead and get a defibrillator, the foundation will pass them on to its partners, Primary First Aid, who will ask for 12 people from within the company to be put forward for training.

On the day of training, Mark will go along to certify everyone, and explain how to register on a national database and carry out weekly checks.

He added:

“It’s not just about getting a defibrillator but getting it – and those around it – rescue ready.”

Find out more about The Oliver King Foundation here.

Mark King recently won an award- find out more here.

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