Mark King wins Inspiration Award at The Guide Liverpool Heroes 2025

Mark King, who began a life-saving defibrillator campaign after the death of his son Oliver, has been named as the winner of the Inspiration Award in our first The Guide Liverpool HEROES 2025.

King David pupil Oliver was just 12 when he died while taking part in a school swimming race from Sudden Arrhythmic Death Syndrome, a hidden heart condition which kills 270 children every year.

The tragic loss in 2011 of the lad nicknamed ‘Mr Special’ by his family prompted dad Mark to set up The Oliver King Foundation.

The foundation has since given out 7,000 defibrillators, and saved more than 80 lives.

Mark’s tireless campaigning also led to the Government ensuring every state school in England has access to one of the life-saving machines. 

Although he’s always played down his incredible achievements, he received well-deserved recognition earlier this year when he was named in the King’s Birthday Honours list.

And in November, Mark, his wife Joanne, and Oliver’s younger brother Ben attended the ceremony at Windsor Castle where he was presented with his OBE for his services to charity.

Taking along a framed photo of Oliver, he spoke to King Charles about the foundation’s mission to ensure young people could have their heart health tested.

That includes the foundation’s bold aim for the future: to open ECG testing centres, providing essential heart health screenings for young people, particularly students and athletes, to detect potential heart conditions before they become life-threatening.

Mark’s determination to create a lasting legacy for Oliver, one that genuinely saves lives, means he was a very worthy winner of the Inspiration Award.

He received the trophy at Titanic Hotel from The Guide founder and host of the awards, Jay Hynd, who described him as “a true hero of this city.”

“I first met Mark in 2012-13 and you could see then that he was going to change things, and he was going to help the country realise that this didn’t need to happen,” says Jay.

“The first thing he did was launch a mission to get defibs in all schools. He did that and that’s saving lives every day.  But what he’s done since, to continue it, is unbelievable.  He’s raised awareness of this simple machine that can save a life; something that before his campaign you would only link to hospitals and the emergency services. Now we can have access to them and they can make all the difference.

“Throughout it all, Mark has not forgotten about Oliver. He has done it in his son’s memory. He talks about Oliver and shares his story whenever he speaks about the foundation and you can see that’s what drives him and keeps him going.

“Mark’s campaign has saved lives, 89 so far, and that’s incredible, and he’s about to launch his first centre in Liverpool which is the start of something else.

“He absolutely deserved to be honoured with his OBE and to me there’s no-one else who could have won the Inspiration Award this year.”

Find out more about The Guide Liverpool Heroes here.

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