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Widow
Alison Doyle, whose 32-year-old husband died with warning from an
undetected heart condition, is spearheading a national campaign to try
and protect others from a potential hidden killer.
The devastated mother-of-two believes that postman Colin would be
alive today if doctors had only carried out heart checks when he was
immunised as a child.
Because she fears that many similar tragedies are waiting to happen,
she is now calling on the Government to fund ECG tests for all
youngsters when they are vaccinated in a bid to detect heart conditions
which could prove fatal in later life.
'Our family life changed completely after I lost my husband; it was like
my whole future was gone.
'And now I don't know where I am or where I am going and the children
will never know their father which isn't fair,' said Alison, 34, from
Praze-an-beeble, in West Cornwall. 'he just went to work as usual; left
early and went to the pub, had a mouthful of beer and was dead on his
feet at the bar.'
The couple were young and happy, with a three-year-old son and a daughter,
who was just three months old.
An autopsy failed to show the actual cause of Colin's tragic death in
September, 1997.
But doctors say that it was probably caused by a defect to his heart
that would have been picked up while he was alive with an ECG.
He was struck by what the medical profession call Sudden Death
Syndrome, or an irregularity in his heartbeat which can result in
immediate seizure and death.
Now Alison is at the forefront of a national campaign called Cardiac
Risk in the Young (CRY) which is aimed to get every youngster in the county
routinely checked for heart defects when they receive their vaccinations.
'Colin was a postman and liked his football, but if he had known
about his condition he wouldn't have played sport and risked his family
life,' she said.
'What my husband died of could have been picked up with a simple ECG
when he was a child and could have been controlled with medication.'
'The Government has said that it won't supply the
funding, but it wouldn't cost that much and it's peoples' futures we're
talking about.'
Joanna Roffey, of Cardiac Risk in the Young, said that
Sudden Death Syndrome killed at least four people a week, aged 35 and
under.
She said: ' We simply want to raise awareness of this
important issue, and one day, get nationwide screening in place to make
sure it affects as few people as possible.'
CRY operates a mobile screening unit, paid for mainly
with funds raised by those who have lost loved ones to the disease.
But this is far from enough, said Joanna.
'All children should have ECG's at the same time as
their usual vaccinations.'
If you would like to know more about the important
work of CRY, ring 01737 363222.
With Permission from the
Sunday Independent
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