'I'm not one for awards, I'm just a dad ... but for an OBE to come through, I was cartwheeling in the garden!'

A LIVERPOOL dad whose 12-year-old son died suddenly at school has been made an OBE after setting up a foundation which has saved more than 80 lives.

- By STEVE GRAVES & ELEANOR BARLOW

Mark King's son Oliver suffered a cardiac arrest during a swimming lesson at King David High School in Childwall in 2011 and died from sudden arrhythmic death syndrome.

The Oliver King Foundation has since given out 7,000 defibrillators and Mr King's campaigning led to the Government ensuring every state school in England has access to one of the life-saving machines.

He said: “Our Ollie was only with us for 12 years but he never let us down once and this is us not letting his name down.”

Mr King, 63, said when he first found out he was to be included in the King's Birthday Honours he thought the letter had gone to the wrong address.

He said: “I'm not one for awards, I just want to march on. I'm just a dad, that's it, I'm a dad.

“But, for an OBE to come through - I was cartwheeling in the garden!”