Tanium Gives Back: 24 Hours of CPR in Honor of Former Colleague

Former colleagues and friends at Tanium hold tight to their memories of Angela Davies. Often called “the marketer with a heart,” Angela was like a big sister to many on the marketing and sales teams. She carried light into any room, listened amazingly well, and had a habit of showing up like a big sister does with just the things you needed. Angela died suddenly last year from cardiac arrest, leaving her friends, family and Tanium community devastated.

Each September, during our #MonthofGiving, Tanium employees volunteer their time for heart-felt causes, partnering with non-profit organizations around the globe. This month, Angela’s former team in the United Kingdom is sparking awareness about cardiac arrest, learning lifesaving CPR skills, and raising funds for its local ambulance service.

Angela (center) with her Tanium colleagues Ryan Nappi (left) and Tony Larks (right)

A time to learn

Angela was the most recent, but sadly not the first, Tanium colleague to have experienced a sudden heart condition. The UK team worked together to learn more about this issue.

They discovered that every year, ambulance services from the National Health Service attempt to resuscitate over 30,000 people, and only one in ten survives. Emergency services are often more than a few minutes away, leaving anyone experiencing cardiac arrest quite vulnerable. Action or inaction in those first minutes often defines the outcome: every minute without CPR drops your chance of survival by 7-10%.

Recognizing that those lifesaving hands could one day be theirs, Tanium employees Tony Larks and Hayley Brant partnered with their local South Central Ambulance Service (SCAS) to organize a series of life support training sessions.

Employees volunteered their time to learn how to recognize the signs of cardiac arrest, effectively perform CPR, and use an automated external defibrillator (AED).

Tanium’s UK team practicing basic lifesaving skills

A time to help

Learning CPR was the beginning, but Tanium’s UK team knew they could do more to build Angela’s legacy. On September 22-23, 40 employees will participate in a physically challenging but emotionally powerful CPR-a-thon: an event that aims to raise funds for the SCAS frontline responders that serve the UK office and valiantly worked to save Angela’s life.

Tanium’s UK team practicing for the CPR-a-thon

In teams of six to eight, participants will use specialized manikins to perform CPR for 24 hours straight. Giving 30 chest compressions each, members of each team will take turns applying hands to heart throughout the day and night.

Tanium employees all over the world will have the opportunity to watch the CPR-a-thon and virtually support their UK colleagues.

Tony, Hayley, and the rest of the UK volunteers now feel prepared with the confidence, knowledge, and practice to perform CPR in those first crucial minutes, creating a lifeline for those in need before responders arrive. Angela’s light lives on at Tanium, and those who knew her hope she inspires more people to ask themselves, “Could I save a life?”