Danny Jones' legacy lives on

The widow of Halifax-born rugby player Danny Jones, who Danny collapsed and died during a match in 2015, launched her defibrillator fund in February 2016 with the aim of getting more of the machines into amateur clubs.

And now Lizzie, from Halifax, wants to see more defibrillators available to the general public.

There are currently three 24/7 defibrillators in Halifax town centre - at the bus station, outside Marks and Spencer’s and outside Harvey’s.

By the end of June, it is hoped there will be five, with the next two being situated outside Caravan Guard and the Industrial Museum.

“Obviously Danny was from Halifax, and the boxes have the DJ heart on them, so people who might not know what a defib is will see the heart, and will recognise what it is,” Lizzie said.

“With him being from Halifax, I thought it was really important that logo was on the Halifax boxes.”

Lizzie says there aren’t many other towns that have as many defibrillators as Halifax.

There are defibrillators in Halifax market, Marks and Spencer’s and the Customer First building, but all of which are only accessible during those buildings’ opening hours.

“You’ve got a three-minute window for your chances of survival to be 70 per cent, and then for every minute after that, you lose 10 per cent,” explained Lizzie.

“So you need them to be within a certain radius of each other.

“We need people to be aware of where they are, and they need to be used if they’re needed.

“A lot of them are locked up. There was an incident in Mytholmroyd the other week - there are three defibs there - and when they rung the ambulance, only one was available, which was ours because it’s publicly accessible.

“The other two were locked up. But it saved their life.

“What value can you put on that? It’s absolutely brilliant. Luckily, they’re not used very often, which is what you want.

“But when they are used, it’s nice to hear a successful story. That was magical for me, getting that message on Facebook. It gives you shivers.”