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Tragic death unites local community
CostaBlancaPeople 10th - 16th April 2018
Community support
The death of nine-year-old Kai Fawcett-Bradshaw on La Zenia beach last week has rocked the expat community in Orihuela Costa. um Nicky and Dad Steve, who are separated, are both well-known locally and the outpouring of empathy and support has been nothing short of amazing. A funding page set up by family friends has already reached its 5,000 euro target and Stevie Spit and Patti Scally have organised a candlelight supper in his memory. Kai went into cardiac arrest last Tuesday afternoon after colliding with another boy as they played football on the beach. It’s is thought he hit his head and collapsed. Kai is believed to have gone into cardio-respiratory arrest and was
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taken to Quiron Hospital where he was airlifted to Alicante General Hospital and put in an induced coma. He passed away the following day. This tragedy has united the local community in grief but also in horror and disbelief at the lack of emergency support and vital life saving equipment available on the coast. The Easter life guard service had ended the day before Kai visited the beach – another bone of contention - and so it was left to fellow beach-goers to try to revive him as they waited for the emergency services arrive. The Policia Local and Guardia Civil were first on the
scene but neither carries defibrillators and so all the officers could do was take over chest compressions and mouth to mouth resuscitation. According to eye witnesses, the first ambulance took at least 20 minutes to arrive but this didn´t have a defib either. It was around forty minutes before a fully equipped ambulance with specialised medical assistance, including defibrillator, paediatrician and nurse arrived at the scene and it is believed part of the delay was because the team had to travel from the city of Orihuela. On Thursday around 200 well-wishers including friends and acquaintances of
Kai’s family gathered at the spot where the accident happened to leave floral tributes. The community has now rallied to provide financial support for Kai´s Mum and his sister Mia whilst they go through this terrible time. A Just Giving page has been set up in Kai’s memory and has already reached its 5,000e target. Anyone wishing to donate can do so at: www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/em magleeson. There is also a petition on www.change.org entitled ‘Desfibriladores en todas las Playas’ which has (at time of
writing) 927 signatures. A Candlelight Supper will be held at The Emerald Isle on Monday 16th April Continued on page 3
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