Charity hopes to raise awareness of illness

Claire was a healthy, 22-year-old graduate when she died suddenly in her sleep. 

She had just finished a BA Hons degree in fashion at Bournemouth Arts Institute and had her whole life ahead of her.  But it was cruelly cut short in August this year when she died in her bed at home in Berkshire. 

Although the inquest into her death is yet to be held, Claire Dee-Shapland’s family have been told she died of cardiac arrhythmia – her heart simply stopped. 

Her father Nick said: “Claire came home to Berkshire most weekends.  She made a great group of friends in Bournemouth and it was a great course for her. 

“It has been a terrible time for us.  She was with me the night before she died and it was a great shock.  She was a perfectly fit and healthy person.” 

Now Claire’s picture is appearing alongside seven other young people who have lost their lives suddenly to previously undetected heart conditions.  They include Matthew Bailey, 14, Howard Jennings, 33, and Laura Moss, 13, all from Dorset. 

Pioneering heart charity, Cardiac Risk in the Young (CRY) has unveiled the poster-sized version of the thought-provoking postcard as part of a 12-month lobbying tour highlighting the tragic condition known as sudden cardiac death in the young. 

Most of the eight victims pictured had no apparent symptoms or history of bad health.  Yet it is widely acknowledged that many of the hundreds of sudden deaths that occur every year in the UK could be prevented if simple cardiac screening was made more accessible.  This is what CRY hopes its campaign will ultimately achieve. 

Earlier this year the Department of Health agreed to add a new chapter to the National Service Framework on Coronary Heart Disease, dedicated to sudden death among young people. 

The hope is that the GPs will not dismiss the signs and symptoms in young patients and genetic screening is made available to relatives. 

Nick said: “All young people should have an ECG when they are at school which will be able to detect heart problems in young people.  But also there should be a questionnaire where the young person’s family history can be detailed.  They say it can be genetic so this is very important.” 

This month thousands of the postcards will be distributed to CRY supporters in the West of England, who will be urged to send them on to their local MPs.  It is hoped the flurry of postcards will encourage MPs to add their support to the campaign and join the charity’s All-Party Parliamentary Group, which already has the support of 50 MPs. 

The Daily Echo last month reported tributes to Bournemouth 18-year-old Chris Rice who collapsed and died while jogging along Hengistbury Head.  His parents Alex and Karen have been told his heart had simply stopped. 

And in October 2004, 17-year-old Stephen Ruggier died in his sleep at the family home in Southbourne.  His devastated family have since struggled to come to terms with how such a fit and healthy young lad died so suddenly.  

At his inquest, the pathologist said there was something wrong with Stephen’s heart and he died from the “adult form of cot death.”  The condition could be genetic so his mother Debbie and younger brother Daniel, 16, have been tested.  Mrs Ruggier says children should receive an ECG when they start primary school, secondary school and college. 

“If we had known about Stephen he may still have been alive today.  I have also got a little boy, four-year-old Jack, and I hope that children will be routinely tested by the time he gets to secondary school.” 

Mrs Ruggier is urging people to get a postcard and send it to their MP asking them to join the All-Party Parliamentary Group. 

To get a copy of the postcard to send to your MP call the CRY office on 01373 363222.