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Walmer RNLI take on 24-hour endurance challenge to help one of their own

11:31, 27 September 2019

updated: 11:54, 27 September 2019

RNLI volunteers who spend the majority of their time saving other people's lives will be helping one of their own when they take on a 24-hour endurance challenge.

'Sweatin' for Steve' is a cycling, running and rowing event at Walmer Lifeboat Station aimed at raising funds for the Intensive Therapy Unit - Kent & Canterbury Hospital.

The fundraiser is in support of Steve Milne of Walmer RNLI
The fundraiser is in support of Steve Milne of Walmer RNLI

It is to support Steve Milne, one of the station’s deputy launch authorities, who has been in the unit for more than 100 days with the debilitating Guillian-Barre Syndrome (GBS).

GBS is a rare neurological disorder in which the body's immune system mistakenly attacks part of its peripheral nervous system, causing temporary paralysis.

Starting tonight, the aim is to have one rower, one runner and one cyclist active from 7pm until the same time tomorrow.

More than £1,500 has already been raised but more sponsors are welcome.

You can donate at justgiving.com/fundraising/sweatingforsteve

Walmer RNLI is the Mercury's chosen charity of the year
Walmer RNLI is the Mercury's chosen charity of the year

Walmer RNLI is this year's Mercury's Charity of the Year

The station has recently unveiled its new public defibrillator.

The lifesaving device has been installed outside the station facing The Strand and is available to anyone in the event of a cardiac arrest.

It has been donated by Walmer Parish Council, whose chairman Cllr Sue Le Chevalier said: "Walmer Green is prominent and popular all year round with locals and visitors attending the many concerts and other events and the lifeboat station provides the perfect central location."

Heartstart trainer with the British Heart Foundation, Beverley-Jane Last, who was also in attendance at the unveiling, added: "Every year in Britain, 30,000 people are struck down by a sudden cardiac arrest outside hospitals.

Parish council chairman Cllr Sue Le Chevalier and Beverley-Jane Last joined lifeboat volunteers to unveil the defibrillator
Parish council chairman Cllr Sue Le Chevalier and Beverley-Jane Last joined lifeboat volunteers to unveil the defibrillator

"Every minute it takes to find a defibrillator reduces a person’s chance of survival by 10%.

"We need these life-saving devices to be as common on our streets as post boxes if more people in our community are to survive.

"I’m so very pleased that Walmer Parish Council clearly understood this message and donated the AED to be sited in such an iconic place in our town."

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