Boy's life-saving legacy spans 6,000 miles

Oliver King died after his heart stopped in a school swimming lesson in 2011

A charity founded after the sudden death of a 12-year-old has donated life-saving equipment to a school in Africa.

The Oliver King Foundation donated a defibrillator to a school in Kenya after one of its students died in similar circumstances.

The Kivukoni International School contacted the charity after the teenage boy collapsed while playing football in November 2023.

Oliver King suffered a cardiac arrest during a swimming lesson at King David High School, Wavertree, Liverpool, in 2011.

His father Mark King later founded the charity, which aimed to get defibrillators installed in every public building - focusing particularly on schools.

Mr King donated the life-saving equipment to the school in Kilifi, north of Mombasa, and arranged for training and education to be delivered by instructor Darren Dean.

Lucy Oliff, school director at Kivukoni, said she was "only too aware" of the difference the defibrillator could make.

The donated defibrillator at the Kivukoni International School

She said: "Once again, I would like to place on record our sincere thanks to Mark King and The Oliver King Foundation for their support, especially in a part of the world where even some hospitals do not have functional defibrillators.

"We are hugely grateful."

Mr King said he had been "devastated" to learn of the death of the boy in Kenya and hoped the defibrillator would benefit the school and the wider community.

Oliver's death was caused by Sudden Arrhythmic Death Syndrome (SADS), a hidden heart condition which kills between 12-20 young people each week.

In 2023 Mr King welcomed confirmation from the Department for Education (DfE) that defibrillators had been installed in all schools which did not previously have one.

He said at the time that 71 lives had been saved thanks to the charity's donation of more than 6,000 defibrillators to schools and other groups, along with back-up training.

The charity is also aiming to open a centre offering free electrocardiogram (ECG) testing for people aged between 14 and 35, and supporting people whose lives have been affected by a heart attack or cardiac arrest.