Terry Hunt shares his story how defibrillator saved his life

As the discussion about a missing defibrillator on Newton Road in Ipswich continues, a long-serving newspaper editor has shared his story on how the equipment saved his life.

Terry Hunt - a former editor of the Evening Star - had a cardiac arrest in Ipswich town centre in May 2018 and was saved thanks to a defibrillator located nearby.

Mr Hunt said: “At that moment, I had an eight per cent chance of survival.

The long-serving editor of the East Anglian Daily Times, Terry Hunt (Image: Newsquest)

“My life was saved because a paramedic was in his car about 400 yards away.

“He started using a defibrillator on me and was quickly joined by a woman who is a CPR instructor who gave me chest compressions for 45 minutes.

“The combination of the defib and CPR saved my life.”

Mr Hunt added that this episode showed him how important it is for people to have access to defibrillators.

It comes just after a defibrillator funded by Newton Road Conservative Club was stolen after its first use.

Later in 2018, Mr Hunt and his sister Karen Chamberlain walked the length of the Suffolk coast, 61 miles from Lowestoft to Felixstowe, to raise £6,000 for four more defibrillators for Ipswich.

Terry Hunt and Karen Chamberlain in training for their 60-mile coastal walk, raising money for life-saving defibrillators (Image: Terry Hunt)

He added: “Ideally, defibrillators should be one on every street corner. They really are life-savers!”