Lord Wedgwood Charity Golf Tournament and
After suffering a major heart attack while playing golf in Birmingham in 2001, Lord Piers Wedgwood, international ambassador for Wedgwood China and Waterford Crystal, and member of the British House of Lords, was inspired to give back to the community. Following his recovery, Lord Wedgwood formed the Lord Wedgwood Charity with Birminghambased business leaders to help place Automatic External Defibrillators (AEDs) in high schools and community gathering places.
In 2002, Lord Wedgwood and long-time friend and business partner, Frank Bromberg, III, along with Floyd Larkin and Robbie Robertson, created the Lord Wedgwood Blue Dinner and Wedgwood Links to Life Celebrity Golf Classic to raise funds.
Since its establishment, the Lord Wedgwood Charity has raised in excess
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of $2 million and placed over 800 AEDs and Cradea Screen (EKG Devices) all across the U.S. mainly in Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee, Florida, Virginia, Mississippi, Louisiana, Pennsylvania and Texas.
After the death of Lord Wedgwood in 2014, the charity has taken a more aggressive approach and got involved with the preventative side by supplying ECG devices for Heart Screenings and by funding the research from ASMI.
Every day, hundreds of Americans suffer a life-threatening emergency known as Sudden Cardiac Arrest or SCA, which claims the lives of more than 365,000 people annually in the United States.
The Lord Wedgwood Charity is leading the fight for survival by placing life-saving AEDs in athletic programs, schools, summer camps and non-profit facilities.
“Piers was a man who walked with royalty but was as kind a soul as you could imagine to anyone who he came into contact with.
The Lord Wedgwood Charity meant everything to him and he always said ‘If we could save just one life, it would be so very worth it.’ We have saved many more and we will always strive to help save many in the future.” —Frank Bromberg, III
The Story of Charlie
So many people think the AEDs (defibrillators) are for older folks, but also remember that two years ago Damar Hamlin an NFL safety for the Buffalo Bills was saved on the field with an AED. Countless other stories tell of high school athletes that were in need. Here is a story of a young boy.
A Note from Charlie’s Mom
“Charlie was born with a heart condition called Ebstein’s Anomaly, a rare condition that only a few surgeons are trained in the U.S. to repair. We met Charlie at 11 days old at UAB as his foster parents. We were told to watch for him turning blue, lethargy, shortness of breath and a rapid heart rate. Through the years Charlie has had many blue episodes as well as lethargy. Charlie was also diagnosed at two and a half years old with autism. We were referred by UAB doctors to the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN. We traveled up in the fall of 2022 to confirm it was time for Charlie to have a surgical procedure. On June 1 2023, Charlie had his surgery and did well. He stayed in ICU for 4 days and later released to a nearby hospital. Charlie still has an extreme narrowing of his valve and continues to have blue episodes as well as lethargy.
“Charlie has a ‘busy bag’ which contains things to keep him busy. We have added a sweet addition, an ADE donated by The Lord Wedgwood Charity. Every time I grab it, I think about the charity’s sweet soul and thank God for them. Thank you for blessing us with a lot of peace of mind. We are forever thankful.”
