ASDA Brynmawr is fast approaching its £3,000 fundraising target towards the Argus-led Jack’s Appeal, following a series of fun days.

The store has raised £2,345 since the beginning of the school summer holidays after holding three fun days and with help from the local fire station and local schools.

Taekwondo star Jack Thomas, from Oakdale, was 15 years old when he died suddenly at his girlfriend’s house in Newbridge in February 2012. His family are yet to find out what exactly caused his death, but believe it to be associated with a possible arrhythmia.

The Argus has since teamed up with Mr and Mrs Thomas to launch Jack’s Appeal, a campaign to get heart defibrillators, which cost around £1,000 each, into every secondary school in Gwent and the Rhymney Valley. The total money raised so far now stands at around £15,000.

Asda Brynmawr wants to provide Abertillery Comprehensive School, Brynmawr School, and Ebbw Fawr Learning Community with a defibrillator each.

Fun days were held with Jack’s Appeal posters, bucket collections, raffles, with the help of Brynmawr Fire and Rescue Service station.

Rhiannon Silcox, community life champion at Asda Brynmawr, said: “We decided to keep it to those three schools to try and get the community engaged with what we’ve been doing.

“The campaign is fabulous and we’ve been trying to spread the word – it’s an awfully passionate cause. We are grateful to everyone for showing their support for such a fantastic campaign.”

Ms Silcox attended Abertillery Comprehensive earlier this summer to explain the concept of Jack’s Appeal to the students at the school, who then contributed £375 towards the overall target through their own fundraising efforts.

Ten schools in Gwent and the Rhymney Valley have now been provided with a heart defibrillator since the campaign launched back in January this year.

Back then, only six of Caerphilly county borough’s 16 secondary and special schools had a defibrillator on site or at a nearby leisure centre. Eight others have since received the machine thanks to the appeal, leaving only two in the area without one.

It now leaves 25 out of the 52 schools across Gwent’s five local authorities, including the Rhymney Valley, without the potentially laving-saving machine.

l There is now an easier way for Argus readers to donate by going online to welshhearts.org/jacksappeal.

Otherwise, people can donate by sending cheques payable to Welsh Hearts, to Temple Court, 13a Cathedral Road, Cardiff, CF11 9HA. Put reference “Jack Thomas defibs appeal” on the back of the envelope.