MK Dons staff members Rachael Canty and Oona Carmichael broke the all-female Channel Crossing record in their gruelling challenge last weekend.
Rachael and Oona, along with Bobby Winkelman, Ashley Whitmore and members of the Milton Keynes Rowing Club took up the challenge of making the 22-mile journey across the English Channel in attempt to raise money for the MK Dons SET and Milton Keynes Rowing Club.
Although Bobby and Ashley finished in a more than respectable time of 5 hours and 15 minutes, it was the two girls that stole the show, breaking the previous record by 10 minutes, finishing in a time of 5 hours and 14 minutes.
As a result of the sponsorship money raised, the Club are delighted to announce that, in partnership with Arrhythmia Alliance, they have been able to raise enough to place an Automated External Defibrillator (AED) at Woughton on the Green as part of the ‘Hearts and Goals’ campaign.
The ‘Hearts and Goals’ campaign, which is fronted by Fabrice Muamba whose life was saved with a help of a defibrillator after he collapsed on the football pitch after a sudden cardiac arrest, aims to place as many public-accessible defibrillators in the UK to prevent some of the 100,000 deaths that occur for Sudden Cardiac Arrest.
An AED is a device which anyone can use in the event of someone suffering a sudden cardiac arrest to shock their heart back into normal rhythm. The chances of survival dramatically increase from just 5% with CPR alone to 50% with CPR and defibrillation. If a defibrillation shock is delivered within 4 minutes of a cardiac arrest, then the rate of survival is as high as 80%.
Although we hope that there will never be a situation where our AED device will have to be used, by situating the AED at Woughton on the Green, it will be an invaluable piece of equipment that will serve the SET community courses and other MK sport clubs and could potentially save a life, if a life-threatening situation did ever arise.
MK Dons SET Health and Wellbeing Officer Ashley Whitmore said: “All the Channel Row members were fantastic and kept each other’s spirits high throughout the journey. We should be all very proud of our achievement and the money that we have been able to raise for the public-accessible defibrillator.”
.click hereSupporters are still able to making a donation and can do so by visiting our fundraising page. To visit our fundraising page
