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 Dean Henderson was just 15 when he died.
Although he had lived with his heart condition since the age of nine, nobody
expected it to claim his life so soon.
As reported in the Chronicle, his death last
summer shattered his closely-knit family. Mum and step dad Deborah and
David Anderson remembered their caring, gentle, popular boy and told how the
rare condition meant the muscle in the centre of Dean's heart was enlarged.
Dean collapsed at his sister Naomi's Stanley home
while playing with the young nephew he doted on. He died later the
same day at the University Hospital of North Durham.
Dean's friends at Whickham School were also left
devastated. He was the type of fun-loving lad who was liked by
everyone.
Which is why a bunch of his pals have decided to
organise a charity evening in tribute to Dean. On June 22, 150
students from Dean's year group will gather at the Swallow Hotel in
Gateshead for a leavers' prom. All the money raised from the event
will go to Cardiac Risk in the Young (CRY).
It will be an evening of celebration, tinged with
sadness. Dean is still desperately missed.
"He was a really dear friend to everyone in our
year," says Kelsey Avery, 16.
"No one could fault him. He was the most
genuine, kind, nice person you could meet
"Every time you saw him he had a smile on his
face. That's what everyone remembers him for. He was
hard-working and very intelligent. The teachers would always read his
work out to the class to show the rest of us how it should be done!
"He lived his life to the full. If there was
one person you could turn to if you had a problem, it would be Dean."
Kelsey has teamed up with best friend Danielle
Cooper, 15, to organise the bash. The two of them have planned the
prom from scratch, arranging everything from the budget to the venue, food,
music, tickets and dress code. It's taken a lot of time and effort,
not to mention a little stress, but the girls were determined to do it for
Dean.
"When Dean died it was a huge shock for us all,"
says Danielle, who is leaving Whickham School at the end of this year to
study for A-levels at Newcastle College.
"We really wanted to do something in tribute to
him and raise money for CRY.
"Everyone knew about his heart condition, but Dean
never made a big deal of it. He was very courageous but most of all
just wanted to be treated normally. We will never forget him."
CRY aims to work with cardiologists and family
doctors to promote and protect the cardiac health of youngsters by
establishing good practice and screening facilities throughout the UK.
In the decades since it was founded, CRY has donated more than £400,000 of
cardiac equipment for use in GP surgeries, cardiac wards and A&E
departments.
The charity also works to raise awareness of
sudden death syndrome as well as offering help, support and counselling to
bereaved families.
Dean's mum Deborah, 42, is delighted to see what
Kelsey and Danielle have organised. The girls got in touch with Dean's
family in the early stages of planning the prom to get their blessing.
"Dean was nine when we found out he had a heart
murmur and 10 when we discovered it was serious," says Deborah.
"But we were told that some people live for a long
time with the condition. So we always had that hope. Losing his
was the worst scenario.
"When I heard what the girls were organising I was
so pleased. It made me very happy to know what lovely friends Dean
had. Really special friends."
Kelsey and Danielle first got the idea of
organising the party a few months ago. They were sitting - bored - in
their German class when struck by inspiration.
"We started to talk about organising a prom for
the end of term," says Kelsey.
"We weren't really serious at first but when more
and more people were showing interest we decided to sit down and start
planning Everyone thought it was a really good idea and when suggested
dedicating it to Dean and raising money for his charity, people were even
more keen.
"We looked into possible venue and worked out a
budget. Once we'd got everything together, we handed the proposal to
Mr Douglas, our head of year, and he was really surprised at how much
research and work we'd done."
Mr Douglas passed the plans on to deputy head Mr
Bleasdale, who then gave Kelsey and Danielle the official go-ahead.
"We were so excited," says Kelsey, who is planning
to stay on at Whickham and study sociology, media, English language and
history at A-level.
"Everything was left to us to sort out. We
didn't want to make the tickets too expensive so we did a little survey on
how much people were prepared to pay and settled on "10.
"The Swallow Hotel in Gateshead have been
brilliant. They're allowing us to have the suite for free. And
we've organised a buffet. People want to have a party rather than a
formal sit-down meal.
"We've got lots of posters all about CRY and we're
going to make a speech about Dean.
"The girls are already planning what they're going
to wear! The boys weren't too keen on a proper black tie do so we've
made the dress code smart-casual. But they'll not get in if they're
wearing jeans and trainers!"
Kelsey and Danielle admit to being nervous, but
are pretty confident everything's under control. The talk around
Whickham School Year 11 has been of little else recently.
"We are up to our eyes with everything," says
Danielle.
"There are going to be about 150 pupils and 50 or
60 teachers so there's a lot of people to cater for. We're going to
have a raffle as well and a lot of people have been very generous donating
prizes."
Deborah will also be attending.
"Dean was so brave, she says.
"He accepted he wasn't able to take part in sports
and just got on with things. He loved swimming and I think sometimes
he got a bit down that he couldn't do more of that. He was just a
normal teenager, playing on his computer.
"When we think of Dean, we smile.
Many cases
Experts estimate that up to eight young people die
suddenly each week in the UK of cardiac abnormalities, also known as sudden
death syndrome or sudden cardiac death.
Sudden Death Syndrome (SDS) is an umbrella term
used for the many different causes of cardiac arrest in young people.
The majority of young, sudden cardiac deaths are
due to inherited forms of heart muscle disorder and irregular heartbeats.
In the UK, unexplained sudden death, where no
cause is identified, is frequently classified as being due to natural
causes. Until the law is changed and coroners have to refer hearts on
to specialists, truly accurate statistics are impossible to achieve.
Patrons of the charity Cardiac Risk in the Young
(CRY) include Ian Botham, Steve Redgrave and John Inverdale.
CRY offers support to those who have suffered a
loss through a network of affected families and counselling. The
charity also promotes heart screening, and other testing programmes and
contributes to medical research.
CRY funds the CRY Centre for Sports Cardiiology at
the British Olympic Medical Centre.
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Dean
lived life to the full. When we think about him, we smile