The family of a young Bristol rugby star who died after suffering a cardiac arrest in Millennium Square have backed the installation of a defibrillator available to the public, after learning there were five around him when he died - all of which were behind locked doors in nearby buildings.
Sam Polledri might have been saved if one of the defibrillators in Millennium Square was accessible and if someone nearby knew it was there. The 24-year-old rugby star, whose brother Jake plays for Gloucester and dad Peter played for Bristol, died in February and ever since then, a shrine of flowers, cards and messages have filled the exit stairs at the bottom of the Planetarium in the square.
On Friday, the Great Western Ambulance service held a CPR and defibrillator awareness event for five hours to give passers-by the opportunity to learn how to do CPR and use a defibrillator - skills that might have saved Sam’s life. A new defibrillator has been installed, and Sam’s mum Louise backed the moves to increase awareness.
Read more: Rugby family's devastation as young star dies after suffering cardiac arrest
Sam was surrounded by five defibrillators in and around Millennium Square where he collapsed on February 26, but none of them were accessible to the general public. “If a defibrillator is inside a building but that building is closed it cannot be accessed in an emergency,” said Louise.
“And if a defibrillator is not registered this means that when a call is made to 999, the call handler cannot see that there is a defibrillator in the area,” she added. Louise paid tribute to staff at We The Curious, who have supported their efforts to remember and pay tribute to Sam.
“They have been nothing short of amazing in collaborating with us and GWAAC,” she said. “They have accommodated all our requests, including the new AED, Sam’s memorial bench and garden, and a bronze plaque to commemorate where he fell,” she added.
We The Curious’ chief executive Donna Speed said: “We were all deeply saddened by Sam’s death, and first and foremost want to extend our condolences to his family.
“We wholeheartedly support public access to defibrillators, so that such tragedies might be prevented in the future. We’re glad that we’re able to help in some small way with the installation of a defibrillator on Millennium Square, and to commemorate Sam,” she added.
The Sam Polledri Foundation has been set up through the Great Western Air Ambulance Charity, and aims to raise money to install public access defibrillators in as many places as possible in the Bristol area. Sam’s family said they want to ensure that anyone who suffers an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest has someone nearby who knows how to perform CPR and has an AED within a three-minute walk.
Sam was a fit and healthy 24-year-old who was a keen rugby player, playing for Clifton, The Dings and St Marys. His family described him as a ‘loving, kind and caring young man who loved his rugby’. All three of the clubs he played for in Bristol miss him, and now he has an award named after him - players at St Marys can win ‘The Sam Polledri Most Tries Scored Award’.
After his sudden death, his brother Jake, who played for Bristol and now for Gloucester, said ‘a chunk of me and my family has been stolen so cruelly’, as he paid tribute to his brother.
The family’s mission now is to make sure no one else succumbs to a cardiac arrest if there is a defibrillator nearby. For every minute that passes, a person’s chances of survival goes down by ten per cent, and only one in ten people who have a cardiac arrest outside of a hospital do make it.
Of those who do suffer a cardiac arrest, only 40 per cent receive CPR and less than two per cent have a defibrillator used before the ambulance attends.
The Great Western Air Ambulance attended the scene of Sam’s collapse, but were unable to save him. Tragically, Sam was the second young man to die from cardiac arrest in Millennium Square in the space of a month - Bristol student Henry Best, 21, collapsed and died during a training session late at night in January this year at the Pure Gym there.
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