COURAGEOUS Reece Scott was born with an underdeveloped heart but can now look forward to a safe start in education after a defibrillator was donated by a local heart charity.

Reece, who turns three next month, has already undergone three life-saving operations before he’s even started nursery.

He and his twin brother, Regan, are due to start pre-school in September and his family had the idea of raising money for a portable defibrillator to take with him.

But help came in the form of local charity Pumping Marvellous, who teamed up with Asda and the North West Air Ambulance to donate a defibrillator to Early Start Nursery in Oswaldtwistle.

Reece’s mother, Sarah Scott, said: “He has epilepsy as well as his heart condition and so is at risk of cardiac arrest.

“Having the defibrillator means that I can send him to nursery knowing that there are the proper provisions there if anything were ever to happen.”

Nick Hartshorne Evans, of Pumping Marvellous, said: “We are rolling out a Back to School campaign which aims to get a defibrillator in every school in Hyndburn.

“We have already got one in Peel Park and after we heard Reece’s story we knew that Early Starts had to have one too. If CPR is given after a cardiac arrest, there’s a 4 per cent chance of survival. If you team the CPR with a def-ibrillator, the chance of surv-ival is 70 per cent, which is a massive increase.”

The team of staff at Early Start nursery will all undergo special training provided by the North West Air Ambulance to learn how to use the new piece of life saving equipment.

Jayne Bartrupe, one of the managers at Early Start in Tennyson Avenue, said: “We always strive to meet each individual child’s needs and we will do whatever possible to meet Reece’s needs just like any other child, really.”

Both the Scott family and Early Start nursery have pled-ged to raise money for Pumping Marvellous and are organising a charity bike ride on August 23.

Mrs Scott said: “I’ve been volunteering at Pumping Marvellous and feel really confident using defilbrillators now. I want to be able to pay them back for all their help as this donation has given me the peace of mind that I wanted.”