October 5, 2016 12.03 pm This story is over 101 months old

Courageous twins used responder training in the face of family tragedy

Twin sisters Nicola and Louise O’Connor from Gosberton, near Spalding are hoping to inspire others to become first responders by sharing the emotional story of how they were forced to use their training on there own father. Together, they launched local charity Lincolnshire Intergrated Voluntary Emergency Service (LIVES) Everyday Heroes Week today with a personal video…

Twin sisters Nicola and Louise O’Connor from Gosberton, near Spalding are hoping to inspire others to become first responders by sharing the emotional story of how they were forced to use their training on there own father.

Together, they launched local charity Lincolnshire Intergrated Voluntary Emergency Service (LIVES) Everyday Heroes Week today with a personal video explaining why they choose to volunteer as first responders.

The campaign, which runs from Wednesday, October 5 to Sunday, October 9, aims to celebrate LIVES first responders who save people across the county every day.

The two sisters, who volunteer for the charity had to perform on CPR on their own father, who was found unresponsive last year and sadly passed away.

(L-R) Louise and Nicola are first responders for the LIVES charity. Photo: LIVES

(L-R) Louise and Nicola are first responders for the LIVES charity. Photo: LIVES

Nicola said: “I got on the phone to 999, Mum just hugged him, Louise came around.

“We realised actually he was still warm, there’s something we might be able to do. We’re responders, we know what to do. We did CPR.”

Louise added: “I think if we didn’t have the LIVES training we wouldn’t have done what we did because we wouldn’t have had the confidence.”

Louise said: “LIVES means so much to us that we make time to respond, at the weekends and at evenings – it gives us a way to give back to the community and we love what we do.

“We want to help anybody, if we can save a life then that’s brilliant.”

During Everyday Heroes Week, LIVES will be holding a number of events, such as extraction demonstrations with Lincolnshire Fire & Rescue, taking place on October 8 at St Marks in Lincoln, as well as activities for all ages such as face painting, bake sales, and competitions.

Nikki Silver, CEO of LIVES said: “Louise and Nicola are absolute heroes.

“Not only have they been brave enough to share their story but they are so committed to helping people in their community.

“They are just two of our 700+ volunteers all across Lincolnshire helping more than 20,000 people a year. We’re incredibly proud and want to celebrate them through Everyday Heroes week.”