The family of teenage mountain biker has spoken of the 'horrendous' moment his heart suddenly stopped whilst he was out on a ride. 14-year-old Oscar was out on a ride, with his Stepdad Adam Dawe, 34, when the incident occurred.
They were out riding with mountain biking group The Cornwall Bicycle Project on Bodmin Moor when Oscar suddenly complained of feeling dizzy. Adam said: "Oscar has always loved mountain biking, since he was nine or 10 he's been out with me doing 18 mile rides and absolutely smashed it.
"So when he started falling behind on a relatively easy ride, it was strange. It wasn't like Oscar. We managed to get him back to the car park when he said he felt dizzy, but when we got there he just collapsed, his heart stopped beating and he stopped breathing.
"It was horrendous. I can't stop thinking about what would have happened if it had happened 15 minutes before when I was alone with Oscar."
Thankfully, a member of the group was trained in First Aid and gave Oscar life-saving CPR, whilst other members of the groups ran to get a defibrillator. Oscar was then rushed to hospital and has since remained at Bristol Children's Hospital, where his mother Emmie Moran, 38, is by his side.
He was put in an induced coma for four days, and whilst has now woken up, he is awaiting open heart surgery. Doctors believe the problem was that one of his arteries has grown differently to a normal heart, so blood gets restricted during intense exercise.
Once surgery is complete, it's thought it will take Oscar six months to recover. The family has now started a fundraiser to raise buy more lifesaving defibrillators to put in local mountain biking hotspots.
The Just Giving fundraiser was set up just 5 days ago, but has already overshot it's target of £1,500, reaching £2,610 so far.
Adam said: "It's a miracle when you think about how lucky we were a defibrillator was so close when we were literally in the middle of nowhere. The response to the fundraiser has been ridiculous. A defibrillator costs about £1,500 so now we're aiming to get a second.
"So long as Oscar recovers fully, then something good could actually come of this."
You can donate to the fundraiser here: https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/oscars-defib?utm_term=vmER2k9gB&fbclid=IwAR26WdSTDe2uombbJKZJ97_hhVQ_ytz5Y1YqQgt52ZONM2
