A NEWPORT mum is fundraising to install a defibrillator in her local community, inspired by her own frightening experience a decade ago, and that suffered by Danish footballer Christian Eriksen last month

Ms Inwood, 39, who lives in Rogerstone, went into heart failure just three months after giving birth to her son, when she started waking up early in the morning feeling breathless.

She had always been in perfect health, and was stunned to find out she was going into heart failure.

She said: “I’ve always been fit, healthy and active, but three months after I had my son I was waking up early in the morning feeling breathless.

“I was also getting terrible dead legs, like I was wearing concrete boots, so I made an appointment to see a doctor.

“I also googled my symptoms - which you should never do - which said I could have heart failure. Imagine the terror, being a new mum and thinking that.

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“My lungs were fine, but I went to see a cardiologist too, who confirmed that I would need a pacemaker with a defibrillator built in.

“The first operation wasn’t successful - the wires came out. The pacemaker is supposed to send data by satellite to the US, and back to Cardiff, but I received a phone call to tell me that all four wires had come out.

“A cardiac nurse told me that if the second operation didn’t go well, I would need a heart transplant. At this time, I was going to bed worrying about not waking up.

“The second operation was a success, and I feel like the luckiest girl in the world”.

Now on pacemaker number three - as the batteries only run for so long - she has dedicated much of the last decade to helping others.

Currently, she is raising money for the charity Welsh Hearts, in the hopes of installing a defibrillator in the Jubilee Park area of Rogerstone.

The importance of defibrillators has been highlighted globally in the past month by the high profile on-pitch cardiac arrest suffered by Christian Eriksen on live television at Euro 2020.

The midfielder’s life was saved on the pitch, thanks to quick-thinking medical staff armed with a defibrillator.

It is estimated that the survival rate of a person in cardiac arrest drops from 70 per cent when defibrillated, to just seven per cent without – and Ms Inwood says she wants to give people in her neighbourhood the best fighting chance of survival, should the unthinkable happen.

She said: “I’ve raised money for Welsh Hearts before, and the British Heart Foundation too, and it was always our intention to do this last year, but Covid got in the way.

“But, in light of recent events with Christian Eriksen, we decided that now was the right time to launch it.”

In a little more than two weeks, the appeal has raised £730 of its £1,325 goal, and should that milestone be reached, the lifesaving device is to be installed on an external wall of Jubilee Park Primary School, a fairly central location in the area.

The school itself played a part in raising awareness of the subject two years ago, as the teachers did CPR training.

And the same year, the school’s pupils had CPR training too .

The school is also raising money by encouraging pupils to wear red on the final day before the summer break, and by installing a love lock fence – allowing pupils to pay £1 for a lock, which they can then write the name of a loved one on.

Ms Inwood, whose son also attends Jubilee Park, said: “It is definitely a cause that’s close to my heart - literally.

“I’m no longer allowed to swim alone, I can’t stand too close to a microwave, and I was told I can’t have any more children because it would kill me. But I still feel lucky.

“Using a defibrillator literally takes seconds to do, and it’s so lifesaving.

“Jubilee Park is a fairly new community with lots of young families, but it is something that can affect any person at any time.”

The fundraiser to install a defibrillator in Jubilee Park can be found here.