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NEW FOREST East MP Julian Lewis has
highlighted in Parliament the poignant case of his Hythe constituent, Adrian
Woodhead, to illustrate the need for greater awareness, more screening and
better research into cardiac risk in the young, or sudden death syndrome. This
kills at least four young people every week, Adrian was married to Sarah, for 10
years, until 1997, Sarah, a non-smoker who had never been ill, suffered a
massive heart seizure and died as a result of this condition aged 28. Dr.
Lewis said two groups are particularly at risk: where there is a family history
of death at a young age, and where young people are engaged in serious sport. Some
10 years ago a charitable body, Cardiac Risk in the Young (CRY) was set up by
Alison Cox, the wife of former British number one tennis player Mark, after
their son Steven's fortuitous screening and discovery of the conditions whilst
he was at college in America. Following that discovery, and Steven's decision to
give up the professional tennis career that would undoubtedly have been his, he
is still healthy at the age of 27 and it may well be that he owes his life to
that screening in America. Five
years ago, said Dr. Lewis, implants which could kick-start a heart that had gone
into seizure and regulate it after the attack, were the size of half a brick.
Now the are the size of a matchbox and can be implanted under local anesthetic.
The MP pressed the Minister to see that enough is being done to increase the
number of implants that are being supplied and to ensure that sufficient
research is being done on drugs to alleviate the dangers. He also asked the
Minister to look again at making a discretionary grant to CRY for its important
work. Responding, Health
Minister Yvette Cooper identified a number of critical questions which needed to
be examined when deciding whether a screening programme was a good idea. She
promised to look at the whole issue again and would be asking the national
screening committee for an update on new treatment possibilities. She also
revealed that Health Department officials would be meeting CRY later in the
summer and she hoped that they would be able to discuss the priorities that
should be taken into consideration when awarding funding. Speaking
later, Dr. Lewis commented: 'I was impressed with the willingness of Yvette
Cooper to look at the problem afresh, bearing in mind the considerable advances
in research which have been made in the last few years which can lead to many of
these tragedies being avoided. I pay tribute to the work Adrian Woodhead has
done and continues to do in alerting people to what is at stake.' With permission from the
Advertiser and Times
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