Sarah and Matt's was a whirlwind romance.
It may be the oldest cliché in the book but it was really a case of love at first sight when their eyes met across the dance floor at a local club – all pounding hearts and teasing looks.
In that first instant, Sarah knew Matt was the man for her.
"He took my breath away," she says now, smiling at the memory.
"And I could tell at once that the feeling was mutual."
They talked and flirted all night. Sarah discovered that Matt was a footballer and played for non-League team Kidderminster Harriers.
Sarah left the club with Matt's phone number. And soon she was standing in front of her mirror, trying to decide what to wear to meet him for a drink. As she put the finishing touches to her make-up and headed out of the door, Sarah struggled to control the butterflies in her stomach.
Catching sight of Matt again, her heart did skip. But there was none of the awkwardness of other first dates that Sarah had been on.
"We chatted like old mates," she remembers. I shared his love of football and we clicked on everything we talked about, from music to the fact we were both Virgos."
By the end of the first week, Matt told Sarah he loved her. She replied straight back: "I love you too."
Within two months, they'd bought a house together.
"I'd reached the point where saying goodbye to Matt was excruciating," she say.
"I'd never felt anything like it before. It was scary."
On their first Christmas morning together, Matt tried to put a curtain ring on Sarah's finger. Laughing, she pretended to fight him of. But then he dropped to one knee and brought out a real diamond ring. Sarah could see he was shaking.
"Will you marry me? he asked.
They had only been together for six months but Sarah didn't hesitate to say yes.
They set about planning the perfect wedding and 17 months later Sarah stood beside Matt as they both said 'I do'.
"I was grinning from ear to ear," she remembers.
But what Matt and wedding guests didn't know was that there was another reason to celebrate.
"I'd found out that morning I was pregnant and I could barely hide my excitement," Sarah says.
"Later I wrapped the pregnancy test in a ribbon for Matt. He was ecstatic."
Months later, Sarah gave birth to a baby girl, Amelia – Milly for short.
"I was on top of the world," she says.
"Matt and Milly bonded immediately. He was a doting father, despite his busy footballing cateer."
One night Sarah went to stay at her dad's house with Milly. The next day Matt was playing a match in Harrogate, two hours away.
When she woke up the next morning, Sarah felt sick.
"It was such a strange feeling, like I really didn't want to go home. All the way back I was nervous and desperate to check the half-time scores," she remembers.
But before she could, the telephone rang. It was Matt's sister Emily.
"Matt's collapsed on the pitch," she said. "Stay by the phone."
Sarah waited, terrified. Finally, a friend called.
"Come as soon as you can," he said.
Sarah was frantic. Leaving Milly with Matt's younger sister, she drove with Matt's parents to Harrogate.
When they arrived, nurses ushered them all into the family room. they were followed by a doctor.
"Has he died?" Sarah asked bluntly.
"I'm afraid so," the doctor replied.
Sarah had been expecting it – she'd known it instinctively on the drive over there. But still her body gave out on her, collapsing as she sobbed hysterically.
"I couldn't understand it. Matt was so fit – a professional footballer who was never ill, she says.
It just didn't make sense. Matt had been happily running around when he'd suddenly slumped to the ground.
His team-mates battled to help him. But it was too late. In the days that followed, Sarah tried to make sense of it all.
"I tried to think of a time when he'd complained of being ill, but I couldn't remember anything," she says.
A post-mortem confirmed that Matt had died from a hereditary heart defect call ed arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy.
Maybe if he'd known he had it he could have controlled it – done something to help. the tragic irony is that the condition was made worse by Matt's higher than average fitness.
A month later, more than 700 people turned out to say goodbye to Matt. As the couple's wedding song, I'll Always be Right There, by Bryan Adams, rang out, Sarah said a final goodbye to the man she loved.
Since she lost Matt, she hasn't been able to bring herself to set foot in the home they shared – the pain is still too raw.
"If it wasn't for Milly I don't know what I would have done," says Sarah.
"We've just had her first birthday and Matt said he wanted a big party, so that's what we did.
"Milly has a T-shirt with a picture of him on that she cuddles and says hello to every morning. Matt will always be a part of her – and I'm just grateful for the time that we had together."
Sarah now wants other people to be aware of what happened to Matt in the hope that no one else goes through what she has – and loses the love of their life too soon.
The silent killer
In England, it's estimated that there are 400 sudden cardiac deaths in people aged 35 and under each year. It's known as sudden arrhythmia death syndrome (SADS) and many of the victims – like Matt – have no obvious symptoms before they die.
The number of these deaths could be cut by routine heart screening.
The charity CRY is campaigning to raise awareness of SADS and supports screening to prevent more tragedies.
Talk to your GP if there have been any sudden young deaths in your family or it you have symptoms of exercise-related chest pain, palpitations, prolonged dizziness or fainting and blackouts.
