Ian Botham, arguably England's greatest all-round cricketer, explains why he has become Honorary President of the Centre of Sports Cardiology run by the charity CRY - Cardiac Risk in the Young.

I first heard of CRY when my best friend Terry Yorath’s son died for no apparent reason at the age of 15.  One minute he was kicking a football around the garden, the next he had dropped down dead. 

Shortly afterwards I got a phone call from an old school friend from Yeovil who was working at a local health club. 

A little girl of just seven years old had died suddenly while swimming – her father had witnessed the whole event.  Doctors later found out she had an undetected heart defect.  If only it had been discovered earlier she might have been alive today.  That’s why I am so passionate about what CRY is doing. 

We don’t really understand why sporty youngsters stress their hearts so much but we do know that if they have an underlying cardiac abnormality they are more likely to be at risk of sudden death. 

Proper screening could prevent these terrible tragedies but eight young people a week still die needlessly. 

Sport itself does not lead to cardiac arrest but it can act as a trigger for a young person to die suddenly by making an undetected condition much worse. 

And its not just athletes who are at risk of these heart disorders – it can happen to anyone; teenagers, people in their early twenties or thirties, amateur sportsmen, professionals, guys just knocking a ball around on a pitch, dad walking the dog or kids competing in their school sports day.  It is indiscriminate and affects all sorts of people. 

The problem has been swept under the carpet for too long and there have been too many excuses.  I am a parent and a grandparent and I want to know that my kids and grandkids will be screened as a matter of course.  Its the only way we can prevent these sudden deaths occurring. 

I have talked to the parents of these kids and they are devastated.  They want answers but there don’t seem to be any.  They have lost a child in the most horrific way and they know that if only screening had been in place their kids might still be here.  It breaks my heart. 

The death of a child is so totally out of order with the natural sequence of life that it has devastating consequences within the family.  Nobody expects to have to bury a child and as a parent I simply cannot understand how people cope with it. 

With sudden cardiac death not only has there been no preparation for it as there can be with terminal illness but there is also no obvious or direct link between what has happened and the tragic consequences. 

Many parents end up blaming themselves for overlooking possible symptoms and dealing with the awful loss is then compounded by feelings of guilt. 

That’s why CRY’s work is so important because they have a network of individuals who have suffered a similar tragedy and can support others through their loss.  I don’t profess to know as much as the doctors but I do know these tragedies could be prevented – that’s where the frustration creeps in and that’s why I will keep beating the drum for CRY until people stand up and take notice. 

CRY is an intensely practical charity.  They have campaigned for the introduction of mandatory screening for young athletes and I felt really proud to be at the launch of CRY’s Centre of Sports Cardiology based at Northwick Park Hospital, London. 

Its the first dedicated sports cardiology unit in the world and will underpin CRY’s ambitious nationwide screening programme and save young lives. 

Here, young elite athletes are screened for heart defects.  Now the service has been extended so that anyone can be referred by their GP. 

In some countries, like the United States and Italy, anyone taking part in representative sport gets screened as a matter of course. 

I want to see mobile screening units like the ones used to detect breast cancer, available to all kids between the ages of 11 and 19.  It is incredible that with the technology available around 10,000 young people are still at risk of dying from some sort of heart disorder which is not detected until it’s too late.  Prevention has to be better than cure.