The cousin of a Scarborough man who died suddenly from an undiagnosed heart condition has had his head shaved to raise money for a charity which is campaigning for the introduction of a national heart screening programme for young people.
Allyn McCluskie, 24, died at his home in Alma Square, Scarborough, in May after he suffered a severe coronary artery atheroma.
Allyn’s cousin, Shaun Lewis, of Wales, travelled to Hunmanby where Allyn used to live and had his head shaved at Cabelo hairdressers.
A fundraising evening was then held at Soltz bar in Scarborough, raising a total of more than £3,000 for the Cardiac Risk in the Young charity, also known as CRY.
Shaun said: “I wanted to raise awareness about Allyn’s condition and the national screening programme and the idea of shaving my head just came to me.
It was pretty cold afterwards, but the reaction from other people hasn’t been too bad. The evening was good as well and around 200 people that knew Allyn turned out.”
Allyn’s aunt, Denise Lewis, also travelled from Wales to attend the event and said it was often down to luck whether heart conditions were discovered in young people.
“Around 12 people are dying every week from conditions similar to Allyn’s, but there is no screening programme in place.
“These deaths are entirely preventable,” she added.
