Hidden heart defect checks on offer

Organisers of a screening session for hidden heart defects say they hope it will offer peace of mind for young people and their families. 

Redcar parents Kenny and Maralyn Bowen lost their son Ian to a very rare heart condition, aged just 19. 

Determined to do something in his memory and to spare other families from suffering similar tragedy, the Bowens, of Redcar, got a medical team to come up from St George’s Hospital in London to screen up to 38 young people. 

Since that first screening four years ago, they have held two others, meaning 114 people could be seen. 

And each time, defects were found in at least three people, allowing them to seek treatment and reassurance rather than walk around with a potential medical time bomb inside them. 

Now, buoyed by a £1,000 grant from West Redcar SRB’s Community Chest Fund, the Bowens have arranged another screening session. 

It’s to be held at the Redcar United Reformed Church, Station Road, on Saturday October 2 and, with 15 places of the 38 already taken up, it’s strictly appointment only. 

And according to the Bowens, who won the Evening Gazette Champion for Youth title in 2002, and are counsellors for the National charity Cardiac Risk in the Young (CRY), the £5,000 they need to raise to hold each session is money well spent. 

Maralyn, of Buckingham Road, Redcar, said: “I feel the screenings give people a chance our Ian never had.  At every screening we’ve done, we’ve had at least three potential problems detected.  It proves they do work.”