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 The
mother of a man who died from an undiagnosed heart condition today called for a
life saving machine to be made permanently available in a town health centre.
Neil Wickers, 31, of St
Alban’s Road, Darwen, collapsed at the Albion Mill gym in Ewood, Blackburn, in
1996 after his heart failed due to an undetected virus.
His mum, Irene, of Cyprus
Street, Darwen, now wants an £8000 mobile ECG machine that has only been used
twice int the last three years to be on a 24 hour loan to staff at Darwen Health
Centre.
The machine was bought after a
massive fundraising effort by the public as a tribute to her son and 17 year old
David Staff, who also died from a rare undetected heart condition.
David, of Carus Avenue,
Hodlesden, died after collapsing near the end of the 10k Darwen Dashers Road
Race in December 1994.
He was found to have been
suffering from Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy, a condition which occurs as a result
of a thickening of the heart muscles.
The machine is used to screen
for up to 90% of similar heart conditions by checking people’s heart rhythms.
Fundraisers currently need to
find thousands of pounds to pay for staff from the charity CRY – Cardiac Risk
in the Young – to travel from London to operate the equipment every time it is
used.
Now it is hoped that it can be
kept in the Health centre where it can be operated free of charge by its
qualified staff.
Money from the Neil Wickers and
David Staff Memorial Fund has been pledged to hold a screening weekend at Darwen
Access Point, in Duckworth Street, on Saturday June 30 and Sunday July1, where
people can apply to have their hearts checked.
A similar event last year
uncovered one person who was asked to go to his GP for a full check up.
Today Irene said “It’s a
shame that the machine is stuck in my attic all the time.
We asked if it could be put in the health Centre years ago but we just
kept running against a brick wall.
“Now the funding for the
centre has changed and the doctors are currently looking into it.
“It would help more people if
it was available all the time. It’s
pointless where it is at the moment. And
the way I look at it if it helps just one person it would be worth it.”
Dorothy
Flannigan, practice nurse at the centre, said the machine would be a very
valuable piece of equipment: ”We are considering taking on the machine on a permanent
basis and we are hoping everything will go ahead.
Undoubtedly it would be a great benefit to the people of Darwen.”
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