Hansard

My contribution is quite short, but it is important that I advise members of the activities and influence of Scottish HART in campaigning to increase the distribution of defibrillators. Scottish HART, which stands for Heart At Risk Testing, was founded in 1997 by Kenneth and Wilma Gunn, who have, for some time, been my Selkirk constituents. I know that it is not among the various organisations that are listed in the motion, but it is an important little organisation.

Tragically—just like in the story that Jenni Minto recalled—on 27 May 1991, the Gunns’ son Cameron collapsed and died during a five-a-side football match. Even more cruelly, it was the night before his 20th birthday. He suffered from hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, although nobody knew about that until after his death. Regrettably, other young people—often active sportsmen and women—have died in a similarly tragic fashion.

From 1997 onwards, Wilma Gunn and her husband Kenny have been fundraising; raising the organisation’s profile, even in Parliament; and campaigning not only for early testing of young athletes but for accessible defibrillators. Back then, not many people knew what a defibrillator was—I include myself in that. The profile was raised here, with debates and petitions in the early years of the Parliament, and in 2014 Wilma was deservedly awarded an MBE.

Today, we have defibrillators at many points—in trains, bus stations, airports and supermarkets, and in the Parliament and some workplaces—but Kenny and Wilma Gunn have not stopped campaigning, and they are keen for even more defibrillators to be distributed. The new ones are easy to use—you cannot hurt the patient by using them. In fact, it is better to use a defibrillator and have the patient die in front of you, as you cannot do any more harm than if you had done nothing.

I have practiced on defibrillators, in the Parliament and elsewhere, and if I can use them—because I am hopeless at it—anyone else certainly can. Those invaluable minutes on the defibrillator will mean life or death until the medics arrive. That is especially relevant in rural areas such as my constituency, where paramedics cannot simply arrive within eight minutes.

I wanted to take part in the debate to remind members of other less well-known people who have campaigned, through tragic circumstances, to try to bring defibrillators, which save so many lives, to the forefront. I congratulate Wilma and Kenny Gunn who, all these years later, are still campaigning for Scottish HART and for defibrillators.