The role of a CRY Representative is to be an advocate for CRY and to have input in the development of CRY’s aims and initiatives in their designated area.
My name is Deborah Anderson and I was truly blessed to have four healthy fit children. Three daughters and one son. Then in 1998 my son, Dean, caught a chest infection and my family doctor, who examined him, said she thought he may have a heart murmur and would like to have him checked at the hospital. This check took...
When I was a young (20) Insurance Agent, I insured a young girl - single parent. She died suddenly, and the tragedy shook me. I am an old colleague of CRY's Fundraising Manager, Rebecca Zouvani, and I am relieved to discover that something can be done. At the time, no-one had any idea why the young girl had died.
I have chosen to be a CRY Representative to help raise awareness of genetic heart conditions & to help provide further knowledge and understanding for people & organisations. CRY has helped my family out on a personal level, it is very rewarding being able to return this help that was very needed at the time, to other people. Cardiac Risk...
We became aware of CRY following the sudden death of our son Jack in August 2009. Jack, who was 17, collapsed during football training in Saltford on August 19th 2009. Jack was a talented sportsman and had a bright academic future ahead of him. He attended the sixth-form at Wellsway School and played football for Keynsham and Saltford football clubs,...
"We lost our 19 year old son Ian in October 1996. Ian had played golf in the morning, been to his part time job in the afternoon and gone for a night out with his mates. He collapsed and died one hour after leaving home. The worst part about Sudden Death Syndrome is that are no good byes or I...
"We lost our 19 year old son Ian in October 1996. Ian had played golf in the morning, been to his part time job in the afternoon and gone for a night out with his mates. He collapsed and died one hour after leaving home. The worst part about Sudden Death Syndrome is that are no good byes or I...
My husband John and I have always treasured our family holidays, especially now as our three daughters grow older and the time we all spend together becomes less and less. But little did I know how much we would appreciate our family holiday in the Dordogne in May 2002. It was the first time we had been away with all...
I’m Mallory, a director at an events agency and live with my boyfriend in South London. I enjoy making home-made pasta, and drinking red wine (as that’s good for your heart, right?), while listening to some 80s music or counting down to Christmas. I was diagnosed with Wolffe-Parkinson-White (WPW) syndrome when in July 2012 I collapsed on a plane to...
On July 2nd, 2006, my world was turned upside down. My wife Katrina and I had just completed the British 10k run in London, when she collapsed and died at the finish line. Katrina was extremely fit and healthy, and just 30 years old. She had an incredibly healthy lifestyle and loved swimming, yoga and running. She was robbed of...
I first became aware of CRY in 2008, shortly after the sudden death of one of our cousin’s, Ralph. He was 28, fit, healthy and like all of us, unaware that Brugada Syndrome existed; let alone within our family. After Ralph passed away, testing showed several members of the family had Brugada Syndrome, and initially this was the case for...
My name is Angela Butler. I live in Newcastle under Lyme with my husband Phil - we had 2 sons, Nathan and Joshua. We were a very happy family spending lots of time travelling the country supporting Nathan and Josh with all their sporting interests and activities. Wednesday, 22nd February, 2006 started off as another normal day in the Butler...
“Please feel free to send chocolates and make charitable donations to...” As I lay in ICU moments after waking from an induced coma, these were my words in response to my dad question “what do you want to say on social media about your health, as you have been asleep for 2 days and everyone knows and has been praying...
We first found out about CRY in January 2006 when we lost my brother to undiagnosed ARVC after he collapsed on the football pitch. After family screening I too was diagnosed with ARVC and had my first defibrillator fitted in May 2006. I began to attend the myheart meetings and everyone was so friendly and welcoming. Since that first meeting...
I live in Swinton, near Rotherham, and am now retired and hoping to help CRY as their representative for the South Yorkshire area. In September 2009 we lost our only son, Bruce, suddenly to an undiagnosed heart condition. Bruce was found sitting on his sofa about to start his supper with the TV remote control still on his lap and...
County Representative My name is Benita Davies. I live in the Halesowen, West Midlands. I had three children, my daughters Lindsey and Nicola, my son Paul. Paul was the youngest. On 20th January 1999, the day started off as normal - the girls and I went to work, Paul went to college, and their dad was away as a long...
I found out about CRY on 20 July 2012, the day after my only son, Matthew, died aged 17½. It was the county coroner who suggested my husband Chris and I Google for ‘Cardiac Risk in the Young’ to find out why our extremely fit boy should suddenly go. I think in the back of our minds we’d kind of...
Aaron James Dixon born on the 23rd September 1987. Aaron was a much longed for child and I loved him beyond words the first moment I saw him. Aaron was such a beautiful, happy and contented baby. He grew into a very handsome, cheeky, fun-loving boy. Aaron was loved by everyone he met and he always had a smile on...
I suppose my 'story' starts in 2004. We were a few days in to a family holiday when my fit and healthy 17 year old brother collapsed and died. Following two post mortems (one in Cyprus, and one in the UK) the coroner ruled his death as SADS (sudden adult death syndrome). How can a 17 year old’s heart just...
I stumbled on CRY whilst trying to find out just how and why our healthy and happy son died in his sleep. Just 28 years old, with a great job and about to be married, we just couldn't understand it. Polish police told us he died of “natural causes”. Rob, his twin brother, phoned us on that terrible Sunday, 12th...
My name is Tara Field and I am the eldest from a family of 5 children. My family consists of Dad (Ray), Mum (Pauline), Tom, Tiffany and Tasmin. My other sister Therese died suddenly aged 16 years. Therese, Tom and myself had been on holiday at Butlins in Minehead with our Church. On the 4th day I had seen Therese...
I still find it hard to believe that June 28th 2012 was the last day of my then 30 year old son Phil Standing’s life. Phil, always the strong one, the hard worker, the sportsman, the handsome one, the amusing one, the good friend, the man with the twinkling eyes, husband to Kate, father to twin boys Oliver and Ben...
We live in Frinton-on-Sea, on the Essex coast, a place famous for its fish and chip shop and "soon to be" pub! It's a good place to live for a family of sports lovers such as ourselves, with tennis, squash, golf and cricket clubs all on the doorstep, not to mention a beautiful sandy beach. With a Vet as a...
After almost seventeen years of suffering what I was initially told were 'panic attacks', I was finally diagnosed with Long QT Syndrome two months prior to marrying my husband Ian. Seventeen years which were filled with moments of terror for those around me, who were witness to some of the many so called 'life threatening seizures' which almost became the...
On Saturday 21st July our eldest son, Tony, contacted us to say that our daughter-in-law, Rachel, had been trying to get us by telephone to say that Ashley had suffered a heart attack and was in Frenchay Hospital, Bristol. It was inexplicable to us at the time, as he had just undertaken rigorous physical exercise as part of his police...
Having been together since meeting at Aberdeen University, James and I finally got round to getting married in November 2001. Six months later James went off to play cricket and didn’t come home. He collapsed during a game and was rushed to nearby Edinburgh Royal Infirmary – when I arrived the medics had been trying to revive him for sometime,...
John died on his 30th Birthday, 31st May 2009. We met in 2001 and moved in together in 2002. We met in Edinburgh while I was at University and moved to Carlisle then Belfast (where John’s family lived). We had recently got married (in August 2007) and we moved from Belfast to the Orkney Islands in 2008. We actually spent...
My brother Martyn moved up to Swindon with me in April 2005 to find work and to get a bit of life experience away from home. Whilst he was up with me I think he learnt an awful lot about life without our parents’ support and I believe he actually found himself as an individual. Martyn was not the most...
Our daughter died suddenly in 2003 aged 21 years. It was two years later that we found CRY. Since then we have raised money regularly for Laura’s memorial fund at CRY. Joan has been a CRY Bereavement Supporter since 2006; and Tony has spoken at several annual CRY medical conferences and contributed to the CRY booklets on Father’s Grief, and...
“I’m going up now Dad”; “O.K. son I’ll see you later”; this conversation between my son Daniel and myself seemed pretty normal at 9:30 P.M. on the evening of March the 18th 2015, little did we know that it would be the last time anyone would speak to him. My wife Sue and I had been chatting with him over...
Nina was an apparently healthy girl, happy and well-adjusted. She had had no major illnesses and was quite athletic - swimming and playing soccer for her High School team in the States, where we lived for several years, and playing squash at university. At 4 years old Nina had an unresponsive episode early in the morning. She was admitted to...
In May 2001 my son, Damien aged 28, went to bed and did not wake up. The post-mortem identified that he had suffered an "acute myorcorditous" - losing your only child is devastating. I became aware of CRY at this time but I did not take the opportunity to use any of their service. Instead I buried myself in my...
County Representatives Our daughter, Lisa, was 30 years old when she died from left ventricular failure due to SADS. She lived with us and her little boy, Seth, in the loft conversion and her brother Gareth who also lived at home with us. Our story starts on November 29th 2006, I was leading a conference for teaching assistants as part...
Two and a half years ago I had never heard of CRY or Sudden Adult Death Syndrome. On 12th April 2004 my only child Andrew died suddenly and unexpectedly at the age of 21. My Husband Dave and I were away on holiday in Oxford making the most of the Easter break, at the time I was a teacher and...
When in November 2001 our son James collapsed and died outside the family home, we were devastated. How could a seemingly fit and active twenty one year old die without warning? At the time of James' death Sandra was recovering from a broken leg and our GP made a house call. He thought James may have died from a cardiac...
My husband John and I had our eldest son, John, in Liverpool and we decided to emigrate to South Africa when John was 3 years of age. After 3 and a half years there, we moved back to Bournemouth and had our daughter Hayley. After 10 wonderful years by the seaside, a big decision in both John’s work life and...
In June 2006 my family and I were on holiday in Center Parcs when my brother Dean, aged just 26, passed away from a cardiac arrest caused by an undiagnosed cardiac problem. It was found that my brother had a slightly enlarged left ventricle and no other issue could be found as to the cause of his death. To say...
Like all Cry Representatives my knowledge and involvement with the charity were born out of tragedy. In our case the sudden death of our younger son, Simon in July 2008 at the age of only 25 years while on holiday with his close friends in Croatia. One minute he was there, the next he had gone. Even eight years on...
County Representative Sudden cardiac death syndrome has taken three members of my family, who all died from Long Q.T. syndrome. My first daughter, Pauline, died in 1979 aged 16; Rosaleen died in 2002 aged 38 years. Matthew, Rosaleen’s son, died in 2002 aged 17 years. Without the help of CRY we would be left in the dark. There is no...
As CRY Representative for Oxfordshire I hope to raise much needed awareness for CRY and all it stands for. Cardiac Risk in the Young, in its many and varied forms, is often a hidden time bomb ticking away undetected. Simply put, this needs to change! Having experienced from close quarters what such a death means, the tsunami of sheer and utter...
Our precious, beautiful son, born 2 August 1999, passed away 7 January 2006 aged 6 years, he was our first child and our pride and joy. Cameron passed suddenly in our living room whilst watching TV with his little sister Leah, aged 2. He had been suffering from a bad flu but that day and the 2 previous but he...
My name is Joseph Richard Tanner and I’m proud to be a representative for C-R-Y and all the work they do. I hope to further raise awareness for C-R-Y in this role and be an advocate for C-R-Y in this position. I got involved with C-R-Y after suffering a Cardiac arrest in 2008 at the Hastings Half Marathon, after a...
My name is Peter Teale, I live in Cheslyn Hay near Walsall, West Midlands. Our lives changed forever on the 15 September 2009 - this is the day that my eldest daughter Zoe died suddenly in her sleep. Zoe was only 23 years old when she died. She worked as a fitness instructor and was fit and healthy prior to...
I was in a deep sleep and somewhere in my dream I could hear a phone ringing. It took a while for me to comprehend it was the bedside phone. The clock on the bed side table said 2:00am. As soon as I picked up the phone I heard my brother’s trembling voice saying “He has gone”. It has always...
My son Robert died May Day Bank Holiday Monday, 1996. He was a fit, healthy 15 year-old who enjoyed hockey and cricket - and had recently returned from an Outward Bound Course for the second year running (his choice) with school. That afternoon, Robert collapsed and died whilst on a bike ride along the River Severn with his two best...
Our daughter Hannah died suddenly in her sleep in February 2007. She was just 7 years old. Hannah was the twin to Lucy and brother to Oliver. With just 16 months between the births of Oliver and the girls we had had a busy time, but the children were a great team and we were starting to have a lot...
It was Friday, 18th December 1992, our last day before the Christmas holidays: Neil aged 17, Alistair aged 15, my husband Ian at Sheffield University and myself a teacher. I’d been so proud that day as I’d taken in some professional photos of us we’d just had taken. Little did I know that I wouldn’t be able to look at...
I became aware of CRY early in 2012 following the sudden death of my daughter Lily. We live in Stowmarket in Suffolk and on 16/01/12 our world changed forever, Lily aged 15 was in the final year of high school when she collapsed during a school trampolining session at the local leisure centre. Despite great efforts made by first aiders...
I first met Sam Wright when we started the same secondary school at 11 years old. Before long we became good friends and I was constantly amazed and inspired by his enthusiasm for fun and adventure. He saw the best in everyone in everything and had a strong passion for making others happy. I can remember so clearly the last...
