Thanks to Alex Fotheringham and her husband Fraser raising more than £15000, hundreds of teenagers in the north of Scotland are being tested for hidden heart disease.

Five years ago, the Fotheringhams' daughter Joanne, 24, a gifted young primary school teacher, died suddenly in her sleep of an undiagnosed heart condition.

The Fotheringhams, from Ullapool, Highland, are still heartbroken but their way forward has been to "give other young people the chance Joanne never had", says Alex.

The couple linked up with the charity Cardiac Risk in the Young (CRY) to support its heart testing programme for young people.  The first screening with money raised by the Fotheringhams involved 289 teenagers between the ages of 15 and 18 and took place in Stornoway on the Isle of Lewis in Spring 2002.

Twenty-two youngsters have subsequently gone forward for more detailed screening also provided by the CRY team.

"If we can spare another family the heartbreak of losing a child, then we will have done something really positive'" says Alex.