Heartbroken Margaret Banks has been warned to throw away her alarm clock after her grandson was killed by the ringing of his mobile phone.  Ryan Hulme, 19, collapsed and died from shock when he got a call as he used his PlayStation at home. 

Last week an inquest that Ryan, suffered from Sudden Adult Death Syndrome (SADS), which can be triggered by any loud and unexpected noise.  Doctors had failed to discover the condition because test results were read incorrectly.  And it was revealed that the genetic disorder may also have killed his mother, who died suddenly when she was just 20 and Ryan was only five weeks old. 

He was brought up by his grandmother Margaret, but now doctors have warned her not to use an alarm clock, because tests have revealed that she, too, is susceptible to SADS.  Last night Mrs Banks, 59, of Fenton, Stoke-on-Trent, Staffs, said: “It’s normally a loud noise or sudden noise that sets this condition off. 

“The doctor at the hospital has told me not to use an alarm clock because hearing it go off could kill me because of an electrical abnormality in the heart.

“In Ryan’s case doctors believe that his heart was beating irregularly when the phone went off and the shock of the noise killed him.” 

She added: “The tragedy is that the doctors have told us that all Ryan needed to do was take one beta-blocker tablet a day and he would still be here now. 

“But the condition was never picked up despite him having three electrocardiogram tests at the local hospital.” 

Pathologist Dr Gillian Douce told a coroner that Ryan, who enjoyed fishing and playing football, was suffering from an electrical abnormality in the heart triggered by loud and unexpected noises. 

Ryan, who worked for tyre giant Michelin, had suffered from dizzy spells which usually lasted for two-week periods, since the age of 14.  But tests at the University of North Staffordshire Hospital gave him a clean bill of health because the results of three electrocardiograms were read incorrectly. 

Experts at the Heart Hospital in Marylebone, London have now tested 10 of his relatives to check their susceptibility to SADS.  Doctors are discussing whether Mrs Bank’s five surviving grandchildren, aged between three and 14, need to be tested to see if they are at risk. 

Ryan’s mother Alison Copeland is also suspected to have died from the condition when she was 20 – though her death was blamed on bronchitis. 

It is believed she may have been killed by the shock of a piercing cry from five-week-old Ryan.  Mrs Banks added: “Ryan was just playing his computer, his phone rang, and that was it.  He was just a typical teenager and after he left school he had plans to go to college and was thinking of going into plastering.  I can’t believe it has happened to us twice. 

“When Alison died it was such a shock and devastating for everybody involved.  As we cared for Ryan we never thought the same thing would happen again to him.  But now he is gone as well and I am just stunned.  It is absolutely heartbreaking.” 

The profile of SADS was raised in March last year by the death of Tyrone GAA football star Cormac McAnallen at 24.  And 12 years earlier it had killed Daniel Yorath, the 15-year-old son of former Leeds United hero Terry Yorath, who collapsed and died during a kick about.

Doctors estimate that eight people under 35 die from the condition each week with the heart usually to blame.  Genetic defects prevent the heart getting the chemicals that provide the electrical trigger for the heart’s beat. 

In March, the Government announced a drive to reduce the number of sudden heart deaths among the young.  But ministers failed to respond to calls by campaigning help group Cardiac Risk in the Young for mass ECG screening for youngsters. 

Doreen Harley of CRY, whose daughter Lisa also died from SADS when her alarm clock went off, said last night: ”The ECG's were misread in Ryan’s case which is very sad because with medication he could have been alive and well today. 

“If all young people were screened and correctly diagnosed al of these conditions are treatable.” 

Cardiac Risk in the Young is a voluntary group dedicated to helping the bereaved and campaigning to cut the SADS death toll.