Millie’s Dream installs 100th defibrillator

A CHARITY set up by a Henley mother has installed its 100th defibrillator 10 years after its inception.

Millie’s Dream supplied the lifesaving device that went up outside Eye and Dunsden village hall in Dunsden Green on Monday.

Sarah Roberts founded the charity in 2013 and named it after her then six-year-old daughter, who has a heart and lung condition, with the aim of providing defibrillators in all Henley’s primary schools. The charity has now provided 100 defibrillators across the wider area and has helped to save the lives of five men.

Millie, who is now 16, cut the ribbon to officially unveil the new device alongside Olympic rowing champion Dame Katherine Grainger, a long-serving patron of the charity. They were joined by trustees of the village hall, volunteers who maintain the devices and three cardiac arrest survivors, David Wright, 69, Bill Evans, 75, and Mike Lee, 58, who shared their stories afterwards during a celebration indoors.

Also in attendance was electrician Dan Scott, who helped connect all the defibrillators to a power source.

The device was funded by a donation to the hall made by the Phillimore family who were represented at the event by Jemma Phillimore.

Ms Roberts said that she was “enormously” grateful to all those who had supported the charity over the last 10 years.

“Millie and I would not be here without you,” she said. “As a result of the defibrillators that we have donated, I’m absolutely thrilled that we have five daddies that are going to see Christmas.”

“We will carry on, even though I said we’d stop at 100. The maintenance now is the issue because you have to replace batteries and pads every two years, which comes in at around £300 to £400 per device.

“We have to keep going because people have put in so much effort into making sure we have these defibrillators.”

Mrs Roberts also thanked her “inspirational” daughter.

She said: “Millie has had an incredibly difficult journey but has come out the other side and is doing so well. We will both continue to do everything we can to support cardiac health in the local community.”

Millie, who is a sixth-form pupil at the Oratory School in Woodcote, said: “I am really pleased that we’ve got to 100. I’m also happy that we have managed to save a few lives.”

She was diagnosed with cardiac arrhythmia as a child and had a heart monitor surgically implanted in her chest in 2014.

She is now a keen cricketer, becoming the first girl to captain her school cricket team, and has chosen to study PE as one of her A-level subjects.

Millie said it was an honour to meet the men whose lives had been saved by the devices.

The first device the charity supported was given to her then school, Rupert House in Bell Street, Henley, in November 2013.

By the end of its first year, the charity had donated 20 defibrillators to schools.

The charity then began to move the defibrillators into custom-made red boxes on the outside of the buildings. The first public defibrillator was installed in Henley market place in September 2014 and was opened by Dame Katherine.

Dame Katherine said: “I have an immense sense of pride in this charity. It genuinely makes such a difference. It’s so unpredictable when a defib may be needed and it’s incredible the impact even one can have. It’s wonderful for Millie that this has all been done in her name and she will always have this legacy from her own challenges.”

David Wright suffered a cardiac arrest at Henley leisure centre while playing squash in 2019 and was saved by staff who rushed to find a defibrillator.

Mr Wright, who is a retired vascular surgeon, said: “I’m sure everybody here knows that the chances of surviving cardiac arrest out of hospital are extremely low — well under 10 per cent and probably much worse than that because a lot don’t get counted at all.

“This evening we actually have three survivors from cardiac arrest out of hospital, which is quite an elite group.

“This would not be possible without the defibs there on the spot, which is the crucial bit as you only have minutes.

“Hence we’ve got a lot in Henley — 100 — which is fantastic, unbelievable. We have them out on the street ready for immediate use and a new one at Hobbs of Henley right on the river. We still want more — to fill in the little points where they aren’t in close proximity so everybody’s within a few hundred metres of a defib.”

Mr Wright has helped to maintain the defibrillators alongside a team of volunteers including Bill Adamson and John Millard. He said: “The maintenance is not trivial in terms of cost and now we’ve got 100 there’s a lot of maintenance. Sarah has led us to this amazing point and I’d really like to thank her enormously.”

Mr Evans suffered a cardiac arrest while rowing on the Thames with the Upper Thames Rowing Club masters men’s eight.

His crew mates performed CPR on him before using a defibrillator installed at the club a year before.

Mr Evans was taken to hospital and was put into an induced coma following surgery and his wife Marion was told by doctors that they didn’t know if he would recognise her when he awoke.

After waking up, Mr Evans had to relearn how to walk. He said: “I remember seeing a wheelchair and thinking, ‘I’m still here’. Your chance of surviving a cardiac arrest is pretty limited but doing so in the middle of the Thames in a rowing boat is pretty minute.”

Mike Lee was saved by a defib at Nettlebed Community School after suffering a cardiac arrest at the Nettlebed Cheese Shed while on a bike ride. He said: “If it’s going to happen to you it was probably as good as you are going to get.”

Mr Lee has fundraised for a defibrillator at Swyncombe Cricket Club and donated a box to Oakley Court.

Donations can be made online to the Millie’s Dream community account with Barclays using the sort code 20-39-53 and account number 23727610. For more information, visit www.facebook.com/milliesdreamuk