Emilio's Story
My name is Georgie Cohen, and I contacted the Community Heart Beat Trust with a heart-felt request: an application for a defibrillator for our home.
Although I understand that defibrillators (AEDs) are in high demand, particularly for individual purposes, however I reached out to them tell them Emilio’s Story:
Emilio (Ems) is now 24 years old, and was born with Aortic Stenosis (a narrowing of the aortic valve). Since birth, Ems has had four open heart surgeries. The first was at birth, to widen the aortic valve; the second at five years old, to swap his pulmonary valve in place of the aortic valve, and a pig’s valve was placed in the pulmonary valves place; the third was at 11 years old, to replace the pulmonary valve that wasn’t growing as quickly as Ems was; and finally, his most recent surgery at 21 years old was to replace the pulmonary valve with a human valve. Additionally, at the age of 11, Ems’ contracted Endocarditis, and had to be fed IV anti-biotics from home via a vein in his neck (central line). Although Ems has been through a lot with all his surgeries and yearly ‘MOT’ appointments, we do not feel that Ems would be alive today without the research and help from the various heart charities. Ems is now pretty much fighting fit, but just a hernia in the middle of his chest, and an aspirin a day, he is doing very well. He runs his own business, and has never, ever let his heart condition effect his day-to-day life!
Always living to the fullest!
I work in a psychiatric hospital as an Assistant Psychologist, and have recently been trained in Basic Life Support (including CPR, i-gel, and AED training). Whilst sitting in the room, I realized how important it is that we have one in our home for Ems. We have been told that Ems is prone to heart attacks and possibly cardiac arrest. We have been together for six years, and would be broken hearted (excuse the pun) if there wasn’t a way I could help him if the worst was to happen.
I contacted the British Heart Foundation with the same request, however the response I got was “Sadly, we're not in a position currently to offer funding for individuals”. For this reason, I had a look online, and came across Community Heart Beat Trust. Although I understand that they often donate AEDs to communities as opposed to individuals, I thought it couldn’t hurt to ask! Two days after I contacted them via their website ‘Contact Us’ Form, I got a phone call from an extremely kind and understanding man called Martin, who said that we would be perfect individuals to donate an AED to. We were over the moon!!! All we had to do was fill out a form, and within two days the AED was in our home, with spare pads, and in great condition! Martin asked me to call him when it arrived, which I did, and he took me through the whole process of how to use the machine, ensure it is always running, and general maintenance. He was very helpful, and really took the time for us.
So myself and Ems, and his family, would like to say a HEART FELT THANK YOU to Community Heart Beat Trust. Although we hope to never have to use the AED, we feel a lot safer knowing we have one in our home if anything was to happen. Thank you for taking the time to hear Ems’ story, because it has become a part of mine! And also thank you for all the advice and care you took in taking our case on. It is very much appreciated!!!!!!
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Kind Regards
Georgina Cohen