Vera Looker is fighting back after the sudden death of her fit and healthy 21-year-old son

A mother is calling for all children to undergo heart scans after her son died from an undiagnosed heart defect.  Vera Looker (left) said her son Michael was a fit, healthy, football-mad 21-year-old who had everything to live for.  But his heart suddenly stopped one day.  In a cruel twist of fate two of his cousins have also died suddenly from the same condition. 

Now Mrs Looker is leading a campaign to get more people aware of Sudden Death Syndrome (SDS), a little-known phenomenon caused by a heart defect children are usually born with.  Mrs Looker, 69, of The Dale, Widley, wants young people to receive a routine ECG heart scan before they leave school. 

She said: “It is not as rare as people think.  If I can prevent just one mother finding her son dead in his bedroom when she thought he was perfectly healthy then it will be worth it. 

“My son was as fit as a fiddle and too young to die.” 

Michael (right) died 16 years ago, just weeks after passing his medical to join the Army.  For years Mrs Looker has been searching for answers as to why her son died so suddenly. 

She was then stunned to find his half-cousin died of the same condition nearly 20 years before.  Another cousin also died last year and Mrs Looker now believes the condition is hereditary. 

She has recently become the Hampshire representative of the charity Cardiac Risk in the Young (CRY) in a bid to help raise awareness. 

She said: “The worst thing is very little is known about the condition.  I now think my son was born with the condition.” 

She said he would have been saved if he had been given an ECG scan to pick up irregularities in his heart. 

The Government is now considering a Bill that will give ECG heart scans to all young people who display specific symptoms.  Screening would also be given to relatives of SDS victims or those with an inherited heart condition.