Twelve years ago, The Northern Echo launched a campaign called "A Chance To Live" aimed at cutting the waiting times for heart bypass surgery in Britain.

It followed the death at 38 of our colleague and father-of-two, Ian Weir, who died of a second heart attack after waiting nearly eight months for the triple bypass he needed.

The campaign is acknowledged to have played a significant part in persuading the then Labour government to invest the money needed to bring heart bypass waiting times in line with the rest of Europe.

Tomorrow, we launch an extension of that campaign, this time focusing on the need to promote the greater use of defibrillators - heart-start machines - in public places and gymnasiums.

It follows the case of 51-year-old Darlington father-of-four, Mike Brough, who nearly died of a heart attack after playing football at the town's Dolphin Centre.

After hearing his story, we carried out a survey of North-East gymns and found that while the vast majority of council-run leisure centres have defibrillators and trained staff, 80 per cent of private gyms do not.

Before making our call for greater investment in defibrillators, we have spoken to experts from the British Heart Foundation and highly respected consultant cardiologist Jerry Murphy, of Darlington Memorial Hospital, and they have given their support to the campaign.

They assure us that the use of defibrillators, which anyone can use with basic training, can make the difference between life and death. As a result, the company which publishes the Northern Echo, has invested in its own defibrillator and will train staff to use it.

The original campaign, which followed the Ian Weir tragedy, has undoubtedly helped to save lives over the past 12 years. By encouraging the greater use of defibrillators, I sincerely hope the extension to the campaign will help avoid more deaths.

You can read more about the campaign, including Mike Brough's story, in tomorrow's Northern Echo.