A campaign using postcards to help save children’s lives has been launched in the region. 

CRY, Cardiac Risk in the Young, is a national charity raising awareness of potentially genetic cardiac abnormalities in young people, under 35, offering bereavement support for families and promoting screening for those at risk. 

They have launched a campaign whereby people can lobby their MPs into asking for screening of high-risk families – by simply sending a postcard.  A new postcard will be launched by the charity every month, portraying victims from 12 different regions across the UK. 

CRY hopes the impact of the cards will maintain the momentum set last year when the Department of Health agreed to add a new chapter to the National Service Framework on Coronary Heart Disease, dedicated to deaths among young people. 

All of the eight victims pictured on the Wales postcard had no apparent symptoms or history of bad health. 

Yet it is widely acknowledged that many of the hundreds of sudden deaths which occur every year in the UK could be prevented if simple cardiac screening was made more accessible. 

The CRY postcards will be sent to MPs to lobby for their support in getting screening for high risk families.  Since the launch of the postcards in other areas in the UK many MPs have agreed to lend their support. 

The eight people pictured on the card represent eight deaths per week from Sudden Young Cardiac Death. 

Pictured on the postcard for Wales is Lisa Jane Browne, the eldest daughter of Doreen Harley, of Connah’s Quay.  Lisa died in January 1998, aged 27 years.  Cardiologists believe Lisa died from Long QT Syndrome, an electrical abnormality of the heart which cannot be detected after death. 

It appears that Lisa died when startled by the sudden noise of her alarm clock. 

Since Lisa’s death, her family have all been screened.  Her father Terry, sister Rachel, and nephew Jack have all been diagnosed with Long QT Syndrome.  Doreen told the Chronicle: "If Lisa had been offered an ECG test, it is more than likely that she would still be alive today. 

"CRY’s ultimate aim is to get an ECG offered to all teenagers around the age of 14.  Many of the conditions that cause Sudden Young Cardiac Death are treatable if diagnosed. 

"We get an MOT on our cars, why should we not be able to have our children cardiac tested?  Screening has proven to save lives." 

Doreen is the Divisional Representative for North Wales and Chester for the charity.  Over the past 18 months she has organised two CRY screenings, which were held at Beaufort Park Hotel.  A total of 79 people between the ages of 14 and 35 were screened. 

Of those, seven individuals were diagnosed with a cardiac condition of which they were not aware.  All of the sudden cardiac conditions that can cause Sudden Young Cardiac Death are treatable if diagnosed, and the individual can then lead a relatively normal life. 

If anyone can help with handing out the postcards to family, friends, work colleagues, and business associates, call Doreen on 01244 821215 for further information and a supply of the cards. 

Find out more about Long QT Syndrome