A Perthshire couple who lost their son to an undetected cardiac condition have urged youngsters to sign up to a heart screening day being held in Aberfeldy next month.
Breadalbane Academy teachers Hazel and Gordon Murch were left devastated by the death of 21-year-old Andrew in 2007 and have campaigned since for routine heart screening for young people.
Their efforts have helped secure a session with the CAYA (Cardiac Assessment in Young Athletes) team led by Professor Stewart Hillis at the school on February 26.
Hazel said: ”In the light of our own experience, the loss of our son Andrew and the consequences for our family, Gordon and I wholeheartedly support anything that can be done to reduce the number of young people who die as the result of undiagnosed cardiac conditions.
”We are so pleased that Prof Hillis himself will speak to pupils before the offer of screening is made and hope this will help them to understand how important screening is for them as individuals. It continues to be our hope that screening becomes the norm for young people in Scotland.”
Sports-mad Andrew died in his sleep and his family still do not know exactly what happened.
Estimates suggest an average of three young people die from sudden, undetected cardiac conditions each week and 80% of them have no previous symptoms.
Professor Hillis said: ”We’re going to go to the school at the request of Hazel and Gordon Murch and speak to the 5th and 6th years about the screening process. We want folk to volunteer rather than be coerced so we will speak to them in advance on January 31 and then on February 26, we will do the screening itself.”
The process involves a health questionnaire including a family history, a clinical examination and an electrocardiogram. There is also a heart scan to complete a comprehensive battery of tests.
Prof Hillis said his group is keen to cover as much of Scotland as possible with such clinics.
He said: ”Our main base is in the central belt and but shouldn’t be done on a constricted basis so we have been to the Borders, Aberdeen and Inverness and will be at Inverness again at the weekend. We’ve done football clubs because it is part of the regulations.
“Our problem is to get young people to volunteer but we believe the service should be available if people want it. It’s the cost of the ECG which makes it unattractive to Government agencies but we believe doing it this way, where we can get 30 done at a time, is the best way.
”We had a big launch two years ago and are hoping for a relaunch and have contacted government bodies because we don’t want it to be elitist we want anyone who wants screening, to have it done.”