Andy Burnham takes on
tough fundraising swim to help raise awareness of silent killer, sudden
cardiac death in the young
Labour leadership contender,
Andy Burnham MP, will be joining around 9,000 fellow swimmers as he takes part, for the second year running, in the
world famous Great North Swim - swimming one mile across the impressive Lake
Windermere in Cumbria.
Mr Burnham, MP for Leigh, has
been a loyal supporter of the charity Cardiac Risk in the Young (CRY) since
2002, shortly after he became an MP. The former Secretary of State for
Health was one of the first members of the
Cardiac Risk in the Young All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG).
Three
years later, when a 16 year old boy (Daniel Young) from Atherton collapsed
and died whilst playing football, Mr Burnham was invited by his parents
[Dionne and Craig] to attend a CRY cardiac testing event funded by donations
from the community.
Since then, he has openly pledged to help address the
issue of sudden cardiac death in the young, which currently claims the lives
of at least 12 apparently fit and healthy people (aged 35 and under) every
week in the UK.
Mr
Burnham says: "I am all too aware of the terrible impact that sudden
cardiac death has on families across the UK, particularly following the
death of a talented and popular young footballer in my
constituency. Therefore, I am delighted to be helping support CRY’s work by
taking part in the Great North Swim next month and through my continued
involvement with the charity’s terrific fundraising initiative, CRYSWIM
2010.
“CRY has pushed cardiac risk in the young into the consciousness of
government and through their screening programme, their centres for
Inherited Cardiac Conditions, Sports Cardiology and Pathology which have
shown us what can be done to reduce the risk of young sudden cardiac death.
Everyone that
supports this swim will know that they are making an important contribution
to CRY’s work to reduce that statistic and in helping to develop their well
established and ground-breaking screening programme and the vital research
it yields.”
Father-of-three Mr Burnham is
a keen amateur sportsman and passionately believes in the importance of
young people becoming involved in physical activity and team sports. In
April 2009, when Secretary of State for Culture Media and Sport, Mr Burnham
pioneered the nationwide Swim4Life project – which saw over 1,000 local
pools offering free swimming to people aged 60 and over and 16 and under,
and giving 20 million people the chance to take part
in an activity that they might otherwise not have had access to.
CRYSWIM 2010 will encourage young people across the UK to develop a greater
understanding of CRY’s work and the importance of cardiac screening, whilst
allowing them to have fun and keep fit whilst trying to raise funds for the
charity.
CRY’s Chief Executive and Founder, Alison Cox MBE adds:
“We are absolutely delighted that Andy Burnham is once again giving up his
time to help support us in our ongoing mission to reduce the number of young
lives lost needlessly to sudden cardiac death. By taking part in such a high
profile sporting event as the Great North Swim,
Andy is really helping us encourage young people to take the
plunge and to “Swim 4 CRY”. By working together we can really make a
difference in our special 15th anniversary year.”
Schools and families across the UK – many of whom have
tragically been affected by sudden cardiac death – have been holding “swims”
since March to help raise funds for Andy Burnham’s swim.
|
Anyone wishing to organise a
sponsored swim to support Andy and raise funds for CRY can register
their event online at
www.cryswim4andy.org |
