Leading heart charity returned to the Staffordshire village of Weston at the weekend to deliver cardiac testing for local young people aged 14-35

Funds raised by local Weston family, Jane and Paul Phillips – in memory of two of their sons, Christopher and Steven – led to the screening at the weekend of over 90 young, local people for potentially dangerous heart conditions by experts from the charity, Cardiac Risk in the Young (CRY).

The weekend also marked a significant milestone: since the Phillips family began their involvement with CRY almost 10 years ago in 2016, more than 1,000 young people have now been screened as a direct result of their fundraising. The 1,000th young person to benefit from these vital checks was Poppy Tanner, who attended this latest screening event and is a student at the local Weston Road High School.

These screenings, led by CRY’s team of medical experts, offer young people crucial insight into their heart health, providing reassurance or identifying underlying cardiac abnormalities that might otherwise go undetected.

Saturday’s event was attended by local MP, Sir Gavin Williamson and marked the 11th day of ‘CRY screening’ funded by The Heart of Weston – a local charity established in memory of brothers Christopher and Steven Phillips who both tragically died from cardiac arrest aged 28 and 29 (both attributed to Young Sudden Cardiac Death – YSCD).

The brothers died within five years of one another, in 2009 and 2014, devastating their family, friends and local community. Craig Phillips – Christopher and Steven’s brother, and twin to Christopher – has been hugely instrumental in the ongoing success of The Heart of Weston, in spite of his own devastating grief at having lost both his siblings to YSCD and is currently the Chair of the charity, helping to lead its path and ensure screenings with CRY can continue to be delivered to the local community.

Jane explains; “We’ve always hoped this community-based charity would help protect others living in and around Weston and truly believe this is what Chris and Steve would have wanted. The starting point was installing the defibrillator at the village hall, leading onto training courses in CPR and general first aid, too.”

“And, having raised over £56,000 to date for the national charity, CRY – thanks to the amazing support of our local community and beyond – we’re delighted that the screening days we’ve funded in Weston have proved to be so popular and made such an impact. Since we started screening with CRY, we know that around 60 young people have been identified with ‘hidden’ heart anomalies, requiring referrals for further investigations and potentially lifesaving treatments, which is an incredibly powerful and lasting legacy for both of my boys.”

The demand for places on CRY’s unique screening programme remains extremely high, with a national waiting list of over 120,000. So, unsurprisingly, this screening day was booked up within minutes of the 100 appointments being released via CRY’s screening portal for young people aged 14-35 www.testmyheart.org.uk

Every week in the UK, at least 12 seemingly fit and healthy young (that is aged 35 and under) die suddenly from a previously undiagnosed heart condition. In 80% of these cases, there will have been no warning signs, until it was too late – which is why CRY believes proactive cardiac screening amongst asymptomatic young people is so vitally important. One in every 300 people of those tested by CRY will be identified with a potentially life- threatening condition.

Dr Steven Cox, Chief Executive of Cardiac Risk in the Young (CRY) comments; “CRY’s screening programme now provides testing for over 30,000 young people in the UK every year. And, it’s only due to the incredible commitment and fundraising efforts of families and parents such Jane and Paul that we’re able to offer our programme at no cost to the individual when they sign up to be screened at www.testmyheart.org.uk.

“We’re so grateful for the selfless support of the Phillips family over the past decade, following the unfathomable grief from the deaths of two of their beloved sons, and we acknowledge that reaching (and exceeding) a total of 1,000 young people screened in memory of them both is a deeply moving milestone.”

Dr Cox adds; “We owe so much to our supporters and will continue to work hard on their behalf to ensure we can reduce the incidence of young sudden cardiac death through awareness, research and screening. We also pledge to campaign for cardiac screening to be extended and made accessible to all young people”.

Most CRY’s screenings take place in community settings (such as schools, colleges, church halls and sports clubs) across the UK. Regular, free clinics are also held at CRY’s National Screening Centre, based in Leatherhead, Surrey.

Many of the young people identified through community screenings with potential abnormalities will be referred back to CRY’s Consultant Cardiologist, Professor Sanjay Sharma and his expert team at St George’s Hospital, London for further investigations or to a specialist centre for Inherited Cardiac Conditions (ICC) in their local areas.

The majority of CRY’s screenings are funded by families (such as the Phillips) who have been affected by a young sudden cardiac death, so there is no charge to the individual when CRY’s mobile cardiac screening service comes to a local venue. CRY uses a very simple, effective and non-invasive way of diagnosing most cardiac abnormalities. It is a quick, painless and affordable procedure called an electrocardiogram (ECG), which is reviewed by a specially trained medic. If a young person is found to have an abnormality, CRY will also swiftly refer them for Echocardiogram (ultrasound) and, if necessary, further, more in-depth investigations.

Jane concludes; “Having lost two sons to a cardiac arrest before they were 30 years old, we wanted to try and save another family going through the heartache we live with every day. So, we felt driven to begin what has now become a decade-long campaign to fund and host heart screening days in collaboration with CRY, in a bid to pick up undiagnosed heart conditions in local young people. Myself, Paul and our son Craig will always be so grateful for the wonderful support from our local community to have got us this far.”