Peterborough Phoenix ice hockey team fundraising for defibrillator following teammate’s diagnosis

Following Christian Eriksen’s near fatal cardiac arrest during the Euro 2020 football tournament, the Peterborough Phoenix ice hockey team decided to fundraise for a defibrillator. 
Members of the team found it close to home as one of their founding members also suffers from the same genetic heart condition as Eriksen.

The team felt compelled to ‘do what they could’ and were shocked there wasn’t a defibrillator at Planet Ice, Bretton, the stadium they use regularly. 
The team are now pulling out all the stops for a charity game which will be held on Saturday (December 11) at Planet Ice. The event is free to enter but donations towards the defibrillator are encouraged.

In the game Peterborough Phoenix wil take on Peterborough Predators with both teams made up players with a mix of abilities and ages.

There will be new players and even some ex-Peterborough Pirates players from years gone by.

Team manager Jackie Coulson said: “One of the Peterborough Phoenix founding members has a genetic heart condition – HOCM Hypertrophic Obstructive Cardiomyopathy - the same condition that saw Patrice Muamba and Christian Eriksen collapse on the football pitch.

“These are the more public instances of this hidden killer. The difference for these players was there was on hand medically trained staff and access to a defibrillator.

“It is thought that one in 500 people may have some form of cardiomyopathy which goes largely undetected/diagnosed killing many seemingly healthy people every year.

“Having access to a defibrillator can literally mean the difference between life and death – every second counts when your brain isn’t getting it vital oxygen supply.

“We hope people enjoy the game and we thank you for you contribution to our effort to fund a public access defibrillator for the public of Bretton and users of the ice rink. Thank you to all our supporters so far and everyone who has volunteered or donated and of course our opponents the Peterborough Predators.”

The team have so far raised more than £700 and are well on the way to their £1,200 target.

Phoenix player Richard Bellington (42) said: “Everyone on the team is behind it. Everyone is helping from getting companies they work for to sponsor us or donating prizes and baking cakes.

The IT manager who lives in Orton Northgate said: “We are hoping we can put on a show, and a sporting event people will enjoy and remember, and dig deep in the pockets to help us. We usually play to a small handful of people we know, but for this game we’re trying our hardest to fill the place, and create an amazing atmosphere.
“It’s a whole team effort. A changing room conversation that lead to talking about a heart condition and the fact there was not a defibrillator near a sporting venue - a plan was born. We knew we all had to do something about it. Rather than just complaining and work on ways to raise the money to get one installed.”

To donate click here. You can keep up to date with the Peterborough Phoenix team on their twitter account at @PhoenixIHC