CRYThis month sees the conclusion of a new national campaign aiming to reduce the number of undiagnosed heart conditions. Beginning last month in Durham, The CRY Philips Test My Heart Tour 09 is the first free tour of its kind in England and aims to test over 3,000 14-35 year old’s hearts to identify heart conditions which could potentially prove fatal if left untreated.

Its estimated that every week, 12 young people lose their lives to sudden cardiac death in the UK. Whilst sport does not cause the problem of sudden death syndrome, it can exacerbate an existing undiagnosed condition and the high risk group is the young.  80% of those that die have had no discernible symptoms. The only way to identify those young people that are “asymptomatic” is through screening.  

Sudden Cardiac Death (SCD) is an umbrella term for a number of different heart conditions that affect fit and healthy people which, if not treated can result in a dramatic and or / spontaneous death. In about one in 20 cases of sudden cardiac death, no recognised cause can be found – even after post-mortem. This is then called Sudden Arrhythmic Death Syndrome (SADS). Many experts are now claiming that the actual number of deaths recorded could just be ‘the tip of the iceberg’ with many causes being wrongly recorded at post mortem as asthma, epilepsy or even drowning.

SADS has affected many families in the UK and also of world level athletes. In 2008 Neil Desai, a world ranked squash player died on his 22nd birthday. Neil was the recipient of the TASS (Talented Athlete Scholarship Scheme) sports scholarship for a number of years, which provides funding, and prescribes athletes intense training programmers and diets, yet he was not given any health checks before embarking on these activities. His mother hopes that we will soon implement a nationwide testing policy, especially as we encourage youngsters to train for the 2012 Olympics.

The charity CRY aims to raise awareness of Sudden Arrhythmia Death Syndrome (SADS). As well as campaigning and lobbying and the provision of its subsidised cardiac screening programme for young people (35 and under), the charity also provides counselling and support to bereaved families as well as young individuals who may be diagnosed.

CRY’s honorary president Sir Ian Botham OBE, said: “The sudden death of an apparently fit young person is impossible for surviving families and friends to make sense of. Speaking as a parent and a grandparent, I am delighted that the issue is being addressed in this way through this screening tour where young people will be given the opportunity to be tested so that conditions identified can be treated.  That is why the work that CRY is doing with Philips to bring about this tour is so important.”

The mobile unit, donated by Philips, consists of three rooms where Philips’ ECG and ECHO equipment will be used to test people. A team of doctors and cardiologists will be present at all locations throughout the tour. The tour has also been made possible by charity CRY, through the fundraising efforts of families whose lives have been affected by Sudden Death Syndrome (SDS) or Sudden Cardiac Death (SCD), and the Gwyneth Forrester Trust.

Free appointments are still available and can be booked online at www.testmyheart.org

For those wanting to support the work of CRY, July 26th sees the CRY Heart of London Bridges 5 mile Sponsored Walk. The walk will start at Victoria Embankment Gardens and cross Golden Jubilee, Westminster, Waterloo, Blackfriars, Millennium, London and Tower Bridges – before finishing at Hay’s Galleria on the south side of the Thames near London Bridge.  It will provide CRY families and supporters with an opportunity to get together and commemorate or support young people whilst enjoying a beautiful walk along the banks of the Thames

More information and details of how to enter can be found at www.c-r-y.org.uk/bridges_walk_2009.htm

 

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