A grieving Scots mum who lost her only son five years ago in a tragic accident has vowed to never stop fighting for change.
Keiran McKandie died at the scene after a collision with a car while he was out on his bike on a country road near Elgin in 2016, aged just 16.
His parents later discovered it took paramedics nearly 30 minutes to arrive while police officers battled to resuscitate Keiran without equipment that could have saved his life.
Five years on and his heartbroken mum Sandra McKandie insists "politics" is still getting in the way of saving lives.
Speaking to the Daily Record, she said: “With Keiran's accident, there was nobody there to provide emergency help.
"The fire brigade were down the road just about four miles away and weren’t called and the nearest ambulance was 38 miles away in Inverness. The police cars that responded didn’t have the equipment to save his life.
“The people that were there on-site debated what was in his best interest so there was a huge delay before he got any medical attention.
“We found all this out after Keiran's accident and decided as a family that we couldn’t allow this to continue."
The former NHS senior resuscitation officer from Elgin founded Keiran's Legacy in memory of her only son.
The charity recently raised over £15,000 in The Kiltwalk and has donated over one hundred defibrillators across the country since the charity began.
But Sandra says progress in ensuring defibrillators - a device that restarts a normal heartbeat by sending an electric pulse or shock to the heart - are carried in police cars has been frustratingly slow.
She said: “They don’t have them in fast-response vehicles or carried by police on the local beat. That is a huge challenge and we’re in continual negotiation with the police about trying to get it rolled out across the country."
Police Scotland launched a pilot scheme in 2017 that saw ten defibrillators, donated by Keiran's Legacy, be deployed in road policing vehicles.
This was followed by another six which were donated to the unit's road policing vehicles across Highland and Islands Division.
The charity has been told their defibrillators have been deployed 71 times by officers at the last count and have saved lives.
But Sandra is desperate to see the scheme rolled out across the country, to allow officers who are first at the scene to treat casualties.
She said: "The police force are resistant because they need to provide the training but it's really an add-on to basic life-support training and doesn't take an awful lot.
"I've had disagreements with them on this because it's what I did in my day job, so I know how much extra this is.
"They [the police] also say they'd have to get officers off the beat to do the training and the federation are concerned about liability.
"For me, it's simple, they talk about preserving life and yet this is a simple thing that doesn't take a lot and could be utilised and has already saved lives.
"It's been 64 months since Keiran's accident and we only have two divisions out of 13 that have got defibs.
"How long does it take? It's a very protracted way of saving lives.
"We're five years on from Keiran's death but we're still not in a position where we can say all police cars are getting defibrillators.
"People don't have that time. Keiran doesn't have five years for the practice to change. He needs somebody to come and help him there and then, as do so many other people."
"It's just very frustrating when we know it works. I think they're making it more complicated than it needs to be", Sandra added.
The family has also campaigned since Keiran's accident for dual response within the emergency services to allow any vehicle with life-saving equipment to respond to an urgent call.
Sandra, who wishes Keiran had been given a fighting chance, said: "We've been campaigning since Keiran's accident to say that it should have been nearest emergency services and not always the ambulance that's deployed because the fire brigade have the kit there and experienced personnel but they're not routinely deployed.
"Many more lives could be saved if we joined up together and worked together."
Reflecting on how far they have come, devastated Sandra fears they would be faced with the same situation if Keiran's accident happened today.
"I think that Keiran would be 22 and if this happened to him today it's likely that the same thing would happen.
"People are not aware until it happens to you.
"I'm not going to give up because Kieran's priceless to me. He's driving me because I want to ensure that he's not forgotten about and this cannot continue to happen and he wouldn't expect any less of me.
"I don't want any more trials I just want it to be rolled out across Scotland."
The 52-year-old believes Christian Eriksen's collapse on the pitch during the Euro 2020 game against Finland has shone the spotlight on defibrillators.
She said: “The Christian Eriksen incident has brought it to the fore.
"It’s what we’ve been saying but people seeing it live on TV has really pushed it forward. That created a lot more awareness and a lot more people coming to the charity.
"I think he can save a number of lives and probably already has saved but we weren't fortunate like that. Kieran didn't get any help.
"I refer to that incident now because it's fresh in people's minds and it is the reality that just seconds before he was kicking a football and then collapsed.
"His story can really effect change if it's used in the appropriate way.”
But while Keiran's Legacy has and will continue to save lives Sandra admits that it’s bittersweet - as it has only been made possible through her own son's death.
She confessed: “It doesn't change, people think as time goes on you'll be better and you just get better at putting on a face to the outside world.
“This has totally destroyed our lives, there's no doubt about that. I'm vocal and tell people this is not something I'll ever get over to accept because it's not supposed to have happened.
"This is a traumatic accident that happened to my only child and my life can never be the same again.
“And for Keiran, it's even worse than that because he's missing out on all the opportunities he could have had. He had everything taken away from him.
"When I hear that we saved someone's life in his name it's very emotional.
"That person would not be here if it wasn't for us losing him and I don't want this to happen to him. Every day I'm hoping that he's going to come home.
“So, it's bittersweet when I hear we've saved someone's life because it's due to him not being here."
Conservative MP for Moray Douglass Ross, who donated a month's worth of his wage from the Scottish Parliament to the charity, revealed he has written to Chief Constable of Police Scotland and the Chief Fire Officer.
He said: “The McKandie family have fundraised tirelessly and continue to do so to raise money for community defibrillators. This life-saving equipment will help others; saving lives and maintaining Keiran’s Legacy. That is why last month I was delighted to donate my first months’ salary as an MSP to this extremely worthy cause.
“The family have already donated 16 defibrillators to roads policing vehicles in the North East of Scotland, which will be used by officers to provide enhanced medical aid if required when they are first on the scene of serious incidents.
“Sandra and Gordon have always wanted emergency response vehicles across Scotland to be kitted out with these lifesaving devices, but I completely understand their frustration by what seems to be red tape preventing them from doing this.
“I have written to the Chief Constable of Police Scotland and the Chief Fire Officer asking for an update on their organisation’s position with regards to the carrying of defibrillators in all emergency vehicles and I will be raising this personally with Ian Livingston when I meet with him in a few weeks.”
Chief Inspector Neil Lumsden of Police Scotland Road Policing, said: "We remain extremely grateful to the McKandie family for their generous donation of defibrillators which are routinely carried in road policing vehicles operating throughout the North East and the Highlands and Islands.
"Police Scotland continues to work with Keiran's Legacy regarding the future provision of defibrillators in police vehicles and options for wider use is being considered.
"We are currently working towards, and have continuing dialogue with Keiran’s Legacy about extending our defib capability to include road policing vehicles within the Tayside area. As part of this extension, we work closely with the Scottish Ambulance Service, whose role it is to provide emergency medical cover, to ensure that any donated equipment is in the right place and appropriately located to support our emergency partners.
"The use of the defibrillators depends entirely on the individual circumstances of each incident. Officers are fully trained to use the devices when Scottish Ambulance Service provision is delayed and we continue to work with our partners to provide the best possible medical aid at serious incidents."
A spokesperson for the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service said: "Our thoughts are with the family of Keiran McKandie. Our priority is the safety and wellbeing of the people of Scotland and we will continue to provide a range of support to our partner agencies for all types of incidents whilst also looking for opportunities to develop this further."
A Scottish Government spokesperson said: “Our deepest condolences go out to Sandra and her family for their immeasurable loss.
“Our focus is to ensure that defibrillators are publicly accessible, and are registered with the Scottish Ambulance Service. This will enable anyone witnessing a cardiac arrest to be promptly directed to the nearest publicly accessible defibrillator by the ambulance call handler.
"Keiran’s story highlights the importance of access to life-saving equipment such as defibrillators. There are currently more than 3,700 defibrillators registered with the Scottish Ambulance Service for use in communities across Scotland, and we would strongly encourage any community that installs a defibrillator to register it with the Scottish Ambulance Service. We are committed to improving survival rates from cardiac arrest through our involvement in the Save a Life for Scotland Partnership.”
You can find out more about Keiran's Legacy and donate here.
