Health Reporter Helen Pearse hears from a mother about the death of her 25-year-old son from a rare condition which claims up to eight young lives a week

A Plymouth mother whose 25-year-old son died of Sudden Adult Death Syndrome is this week urging others to be more aware of the condition. 

Jenny Thomas, from Plympton, today said if one person suffering from symptoms associated with the syndrome became more aware of it and went to their GP, her son Nick’s death would not have been in vain. 

Nick died at the wheel of a car in January this year, his heart’s electrical pulses ceasing through Sudden Adult Death Syndrome, a rare condition similar to cot death. 

This week the former Plymouth rapper and lyricist is being remembered during the first ever Plymouth Music week. 

It comes just days after another young Plymouth man, 19-year-old Lee Wilson, died suddenly in his sleep.  His family has been told he may also have suffered Sudden Adult Death Syndrome.  Lee, from Mount Gould, was the winner of a Student of the Year title and had been a technician at the Live8 concert in London. 

He was found dead in bed by his family on October 8.  More than 600 people attended his funeral last week. 

Nationally, between four and eight young people under the age of 35 die of Sudden Adult Death Syndrome (SADS) every week. 

Nick Thomas (left), who moved to Hertfordshire in 1999, died in January from a genetic heart disorder that comes under the umbrella term SADS.  He’d previously complained of chest pains and had blacked out on occasions, although he kept this from his mum, and his GP had diagnosed a viral infection. 

In fact, he had a fault in the electrical activity of the heart which could have been triggered by stress of being startled. 

Today his mum said: “It’s not known about enough.  We need to highlight the problem and raise awareness. 

"If someone picks up the paper and reads what Nick’s symptoms were, and there’s some 21-year-old in Plymouth who can then turn around to his mother and say, ‘These are the same symptoms as me,’ and they demand their doctor does something, then I can say that what happened to Nick didn’t happen in vain.” 

She added: “Nick was complaining of indigestion and chest pains for a long time.  What I didn’t know was that he was having blackouts, and this is one of the symptoms of what Nick had.  He had gone to his GP several times and he said it was a viral infection and that Nick was run down.  He didn’t investigate it more. 

“Sudden adult deaths are usually youngsters who are fit and well, and often athletic.  So if anyone is having these symptoms don’t pooh-pooh it just because you’re fit and healthy and think you can’t be ill and have underlying problems. 

“To have four to eight youngsters a week in the UK die of SADS, you think there’s got to be a link in the chain missing somewhere along the line. 

“People think it’s rare, but if you’re putting it in the same category as cot death it’s not rare.” 

Since Nick’s death, Jenny and the rest of her family have had tests for any heart problems – as there is a 50 per cent chance SADS is genetic. 

Jenny added: “If one member of my family is found to have what Nick had, again what has happened to him wouldn’t have happened in vain.” 

Sudden Adult Death Syndrome, or Sudden Arrhythmic Death Syndrome as it is also know, occurs when an apparently healthy person dies suddenly from a cardiac arrest and no heart abnormalities are found to explain it.  The abnormality occurs in the heart’s electrical circuit causing the heart to stop.  It is difficult to diagnose because once the heart stops, the electrical circuit is no longer present and therefore the abnormality is no longer detectable. 

Cardiac Risk in the Young (CRY) is a national charity which was founded by Alison Cox 10 years ago to raise public awareness of cardiac risk among young people. 

Alison said: “A sudden adult death is when the young person has been fit and healthy and nobody thought they had a heart condition.  It can happen within 20 seconds to two minutes. 

“It is 50 per cent likely to be genetic, so relatives are advised to be screened for heart problems.  Symptoms can include breathlessness, palpitations, fainting, dizziness and chest pain on exercise.  These symptoms seem like indigestion, asthma and epilepsy.  If you’re 60 and have these symptoms, the doctor would assume heart problems, but it you’re a 16-year-old fit and healthy person a doctor could say it was another condition. 

“We don’t want to frighten people, but we do want people to realise that if they have had an unidentified SADS death in the family, they could be at risk; or that if a young person is having cardiac symptoms they must be investigated."