Myleene Klass hosts Everyday Heroes Awards as fearless Richard wins for lifesaving bedroom heroics

On 7 September 2016, we celebrated the nation’s life savers and first aid champions at our annual Everyday Heroes Awards.

A man from East Sussex, who saved his fiancée’s life after waking at 3am to find her struggling to breathe beside him, was named Everyday Hero of the Year at our 2016 award ceremony.

In October 2015, Richard Tucker, 47, was woken up by strange noises as his fiancée – now wife – was in cardiac arrest next to him. Overcoming the panic and horror of the situation, Richard sprang into action, rushing through to Bridget’s daughter Anna to shout to her to call 999 immediately, before performing CPR on the floor of their bedroom until help arrived. His grateful wife Bridget went on to make a full recovery and subsequently nominated her husband for the top St John Ambulance Everyday Heroes award.

Richard was amongst 11 winners on the night, hosted by presenter and musician Myleene Klass, and supported by Laerdal Medical - creator of the world famous Resusci Anne.

Here are our 2016 winners and their stories:

Everyday Hero of Year – Richard Tucker

In October last year Richard went to bed not knowing that in a few short hours he would be helping to save his fiancée’s life. Woken by strange noises at 3am, Richard realised that his fiancée was struggling to breath in the bed next to him. Extremely panicked, Richard rushed through to Bridget’s daughter Anna and shouted to her to call 999 immediately. Richard then placed his fiancée - now wife - on the floor of their bedroom and conducted CPR on his own until help arrived.

Guy Evans Young Hero of the Year – Bradley Knight

Student Bradley, 17, rushed to the scene of a motorcycle accident to help assist a complete stranger. On hearing a loud scraping and bang, teenager Bradley saw a man had fallen off his motorbike. The engine was still running and dangerously leaking petrol so he immediately turned it off to prevent further danger. The man had obvious head and leg injuries and a suspected concussion, so Bradley lay him down, supported his leg and treated him for shock. Whilst helping the casualty, a heavily pregnant bystander who witnessed the accident also went in to shock, so Bradley also reassured her and kept her calm as they both waited for the emergency services to arrive.

Community Hero – Tracey Garde

In 2012, following the public cardiac arrest of footballer Fabrice Muamba, Tracey as chair of the Bolton ICD Support Group, along with the committee, decided to fundraise to provide the local community with AED’s. Initially targeting local schools and sports clubs, their first defibrillator was presented to Bolton Rugby Club in December 2012. Since then, the group has donated 120 AEDs and regularly visits schools and sports clubs to offer resuscitation and AED training free of charge. Tracey has appeared on TV describing how defibrillators can save lives and is now campaigning for all airlines to carry the vital equipment.

First Aid Champion – Lizzie Jones

Professional rugby player Danny Jones was just 29 when he had a fatal cardiac arrest on the pitch, leaving his widow Lizzie to raise the couple’s twins alone. Lizzie launched ‘Danny Jones Defibrillators’ in a bid to supply machines to grassroots rugby clubs across the country.As well as the defibrillator drive, Lizzie has successfully campaigned for the screening of all professional rugby league players for cardiac problems. As a result, The Rugby Football League has introduced compulsory medical checks for all three of its professional and semi-professional leagues.

Workplace Hero – Russell Piper

Russell was the only person present when his fellow worker Stephen collapsed. He immediately dialed 999 and put his mobile on speaker so he could answer questions from the operator while administering CPR in between shouting for help. As a result of the incident, Stephen suffered brain damage and was unable to walk or talk for a long time afterwards. Following his slow and painful recovery, Stephen has now come forward as he is incredibly grateful for Russell’s quick thinking and hands-on help. Not only did Russell save Stephen’s life, but he also visited him in hospital, provided support for his partner in the difficult weeks after the incident and arranged transport home for him.

Top of the Class – Saint Paul’s Catholic High School

A team of eight first aid trained members of staff at Saint Paul’s Catholic High School are in the process of training all students to be able to save a life. The training covers CPR, choking and severe bleeds. The school has three defibrillators on site and a First Aid First Response Procedure where staff can dial an emergency phone line number ‘500’ should they require a first aider anywhere in the school building. In addition to this all pupils with medical needs have a medical profile uploaded onto their personal page on the school system. Pupils with medical needs such as diabetes, epilepsy and allergies carry a ‘what to do in an emergency’ card should a medical emergency arise in the classroom.

Organisation of the Year for First Aid Excellence - Transport for Greater Manchester

Every year approximately 270 million journeys are made by public transport across Greater Manchester. Providing a high-quality service is essential and the safety of passengers is absolutely vital. To ensure this is the case TfGM has invested in first aid training for 73% of frontline staff. TfGM’s investment in first aid far exceeds its legal requirement, but the benefits to both employees and customers alike means its commitment to this type of training remains stronger than ever, with a target of 100% being set for the coming year.

Hero Parent – Victoria Dawson

In Nov 2015, a few weeks after bringing premature baby Eddie back from hospital, Mum Victoria was breastfeeding when the infant started choking and became limp. It quickly became apparent to the young Mum that her son had actually stopped breathing. Victoria managed to use the CPR skills she’d learnt through her nurses’ training to save her son by giving rescue breaths and chest compressions. By the time the ambulance had arrived, baby Eddie was breathing again.

Volunteer of the Year - Luke Tester

Since joining St John Ambulance, Luke has taken on a number of clinical roles as a Cycle Responder, Community First Responder and Emergency Medical Technician and covers events far and wide (five regions and counting). He has been Unit Training Lead and then Unit Manager & First Aid Society President of Exeter University Unit and was instrumental in overhauling the unit training programme, setting a new standard for all student volunteering units in the region. As well as being a medical student he has lead the unit for the past year through great organisation and structural changes and has personally supported the whole unit to achieve excellence in fundraising, events first aid and training.

Over the last two years, Luke has achieved so much personally and through his leadership of Exeter University Unit. He has pushed the boundaries of what student volunteers can achieve while studying. As a leader Luke's energy and enthusiasm is contagious. He has lead Exeter University Unit to a successful year. Starting with Save a Life September and finishing with the Donate for Defibs campaign, the unit has volunteered more, fundraised more and trained more students and staff in first aid than ever before.

What makes Luke very special is his ability not only to shine through his own personal achievements but to credit the achievements of the volunteers around him and inspire them to go further and achieve more.

Fundraiser of the Year - Kevin Lamb

Kevin, who works at Cavendish Nuclear, this year decided to attempt his first ever marathon to raise funds for St John Ambulance. His 16 week training programme involved more than 400 miles of runs up and down the West Coast Cycle path and the Ennerdale Valley in all weathers. But his hard work paid off as he completed this year’s London Marathon in an impressive 4hrs 39mins. In total, he raised an incredible £1,700 for the charity.

Find out more about our Everyday Heroes Awards 2016