The CRY Test My Heart Tour 2010 stopped in Preston on the 25th and 26th of September and screened local young people.  The tour marked one of the flagship campaigns for CRY during its 15th anniversary year.

 

The screening sessions took place outside the town’s Morrison’s Dockyard store; and the event was held in memory of Andrew Parr who died suddenly in 2004 from an undiagnosed heart condition, aged just 21. Since then, his parents Ruth and David Lowe have campaigned tirelessly and have raised over £60,000 to fund screening events such as this in the Preston area.

 

In March last year, Christopher Smith (aged 17) - a member of Preston Swimming Club - was diagnosed with a heart problem at another local CRY screening held at Myerscough College.  If his condition had been left untreated it could have resulted in sudden death. 

 

Christopher has since been successfully treated for Wolff-Parkinson-White Syndrome, given the all clear earlier this year and is now back to swimming competitively.

 

Ruth says: “We don’t want another young life to be lost unnecessarily or to think other parents and families could go through what we have been through”. 

 

Every week in the UK, 12 young people (aged 35 and under) lose their lives to sudden cardiac death - a statistic that is believed to be a conservative estimate. Following the success of the initial Test My Heart Tour in 2009 – which saw the huge, mobile screening unit (donated by health and well-being company, Phillips) visiting 12 destinations – this year’s Test My Heart Tour aimed to offer free screening to over 2,500 young people.

 

Last year, around 2,500 young people were tested in venues including supermarkets, town centres and universities. At least 13 people were diagnosed with heart abnormalities during the 10 week tour.

 

A staggering 80 per cent of the apparently healthy 14 to 35 year-olds who die from young sudden cardiac death will have shown no previous sign of heart defects.

 

It is widely accepted that testing saves lives, reinforcing the importance of the CRY Test My Heart Tour and its unique ability to detect conditions that might otherwise have gone unnoticed.

 

Chief Executive and Founder of Cardiac Risk in the Young, Alison Cox MBE, said: “As a charity, we are very excited about the prospect of rolling out our pioneering tour for the second year.

 

"The Test My Heart initiative allows us to reach out to new parts of England, where access to screening may be poor, as well as helping us to continue raising the profile of CRY and the importance of screening young people.

 

“In 2009, in just over two months, our team identified a number of young people who were simply unaware that they were walking around with an undiagnosed and potentially fatal heart defect – literally, a ticking timebomb. Thankfully, these people were treated and are now able to lead normal, active lives. The consequences of their conditions remaining undetected simply doesn’t bear thinking about and underlines the very ethos of CRY and our ongoing mission to reduce deaths from these sudden and tragic conditions.”

 

The mobile unit consists of three rooms where Philips’ ECG and ECHO equipment is used to test people. A doctor and a team of cardiac physicians are present, with each screening taking no more than 30 minutes.

 

For more information about CRY's screening programme see www.c-r-y.org.uk/ecg.htm