I wouldn't be here without a defibrillator says cardiac arrest survivor taking part in Lesley's Legacy Walk

“I wouldn’t be hear now if it wasn’t for a defibrillator” - the words of former prison officer Antony Ryan who was today (June 6) taking part in Lesley’s Legacy Walk to highlight the locations of the life saving pieces of equipment in Washington.

Ahead of the walk, Antony, 56, from Shiney Row, said: “I wouldn’t be here if I hadn’t been administered a defibrillator. I was dead for a total of 10 minutes and the shocks from the defibrillator restarted my heart and got it back into the correct rhythm. It really was the difference between life and death.”

Antony was joined by around 160 people taking part in the walk, along with Lesley’s partner Craig Bailey and her mother, Christine Baker.

After being diagnosed with breast cancer, despite her own obvious challenges, selfless Lesley Anne Baker decided to “give something back to her community” and embarked on a quest to see defibrillators accessible to as many of Washington’s residents as possible.

She embarked on a fundraising campaign to raise money for defibrillators as well as contacting businesses at the heart of communities - in many cases pubs - to ask owners to install them on their buildings in publicly accessible cases.

After successfully seeing the installation of her first defibrillator in Penshaw, Lesley saw a further six defibrillators installed in her home town before she sadly lost her brave battle and passed away on May 5, 2022.

In June last year (2025), Lesley’s friends completed her mission of installing a publicly accessible defibrillator in all 18 of Washington’s villages after Antony provided a donation of £2,000 to purchase the final defibrillator and casing.

Recalling his own near death experience and why Lesley’s quest is so close to his heart, Antony said: “I was training for a triathlon and me and a friend had gone for a swim off Roker Beach.

“We were about 100m out from the beach and had stopped for a rest and I had inflated my float and we were just chatting.

“I remember putting my head back in the water and felt the cold chill on my neck and that’s the last thing I remember. My friend told me he had been continuing to talk to me and thought I wasn’t responding as I was just chilling out.

“After 20 seconds of me not answering he realised something was wrong. When he came across he later said my eyes were just staring upwards. I was unresponsive and effectively dead.”

Antony’s friend immediately began to swim him ashore and it’s at this point an amazing but unlikely chain of events unravelled which allowed Antony to be brought back from the brink.

He added “There were two men on the beach who had just done CPR training the day before as well as two nurses who were walking along the promenade. One ran to my assistance and called an ambulance whilst the other went to the Adventure Sunderland centre, where they knew there was a defibrillator.”

“I remember initially coming round and asking my mate what had happened and he said ‘you’ve had a bit of a funny turn’.

“At that point I lost consciousness again as my heart still hadn’t returned to a normal rhythm. I was shocked again, and this time it did return my heart to a normal rhythm.

“Sadly, Lesley wasn’t able to see her mission completed, but anyone can go into cardiac arrest at any time and in any place and so it’s vital people know where their nearest accessible defibrillator is.”

Ahead of setting off on the walk, Lesley’s partner, Craig Bailey, said: “Lesley would be unbelievably happy to know her mission has been accomplished. Defibrillators are so important, but for me and my son it’s nice to take part in this walk and to speak to people who knew Lesley.”

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The walk was organised by trained nurse, Nev Harris, who has used defibrillators both in and outside of work to save people’s lives.

Nev said: “Today’s walk is about carrying on Lesley’s legacy to ensure every village in Washington has a defibrillator. A lot of people don’t know where these defibrillators are and today we are visiting 11 pubs, each one of which has a defibrillator.

“Every second literally does count and so knowing where your defibrillator is can potentially save someone’s life.”

The installation of the defibrillators was supported by the North East Rotary Club.