Ambulances test for fatal DKA diabetes complication after man's death
Following the death of a young father from diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA), his family raised funds to provide ketone testing equipment to West Midlands ambulance crews. This initiative aims to prevent similar deaths by enabling paramedics to test for the condition on-site.
Why it matters
This highlights the impact of community-led fundraising on public health infrastructure and the importance of diagnostic accessibility in emergency care.
Image source, Family Image caption, Nik Russell with his son Leon who has helped raise money in his dad's name
Pub regulars have raised £18,000 in memory of a young dad who died as a result of a serious complication with his diabetes, allowing ambulance crews across the West Midlands to test for it.
Nik Russell had diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA), where a lack of insulin causes harmful substances known as ketones to build up in the blood.
Fundraising by staff and customers at The Elizabethan on Woodside, Telford, has helped pay for ketone testing equipment to be routinely available to crews across the region.
The pub is one of the finalists in the BBC Make a Difference Awards this autumn.
Lesley Russell, his mother, said the "pain" of losing him was "there all the time" but she was proud that paramedics could now test all diabetics for DKA.
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