Mum’s plea on new law

Young mother of two Kerrie Scott spoke today of her disappointment at the failure of MPs to make a screening test compulsory for potential victims of a killer heart condition.

It was a random version of the test on her baby son Tyler that revealed the rare heart defect Cardiomyopathy and ultimately saved his life.

Failed

He was just nine-months–old at the time.

A Cardiac Risk in the Young Bill was withdrawn from the House of Commons at the eleventh hour on Friday when senior MPs said they would not back a change in law making it compulsory.  MPs did, however, say they would look at the situation further.

Ministers heard how hundreds of young people had died because doctors had failed to identify their fatal heart conditions.

Kerrie, aged 25, of Hemlingford Road, Kingshurst, said: “Tyler was very sick and could hardly breathe and that is when doctors diagnosed him with the rare heart condition cardiomyopathy.

“It was a living nightmare watching Tyler in intensive care but at least the screening meant they knew what was wrong with him and the doctors could keep him alive.”

Kerrie, a secretary at Melbicks Leisure Centre, in Solihull, added: “It must be awful for people whose children suddenly die from a heart condition. I believe carrying out routine tests on people is an important way forward.

“I back any law that makes that possible and hope MPs will do something about it.”

Strong

Little Tyler, who is now one-year-old, must take a range of medicines 11 times a day including aspirin to thin his blood and tablets to stop fluid forming in his heart.

Kerrie, who has another son Jordan, a healthy six-year-old, and her partner Gary Preston, a 23-year-old roofer, are hoping Tyler’s heart will become strong enough not to need medication in future years.

Parents John and Evelyn Linforth whose 16-year-old daughter Alison, from Longbridge, collapsed and died on her first day at Cadbury Sixth Form College from Sudden Death Syndrome have also expressed disappointment at the Bill’s setback.

The Cardiac Risk in the Young (CRY) charity is continuing to campaign for new regulations to provide regular checks on people whose relatives have died from rare heart problems.

For more details on sudden death syndromes visit   www.C-R-Y.org.uk