Raising awareness of sudden cardiac arrest

5 July 2010, 00:00

The Patterson family from Billericay lost their son James in 2005 from an undiagnosed heart condition.

The 28 year old left behind a wife and one year old daughter.

The charity CRY says he's one of 12 people a week who now die from sudden cardiac arrest.

The emotive postcard - with the faces of 12 young people from across the region who died suddenly - are being sent to people in the hope they'll then forward them on to local MPs as they continue trying to gain support for people to be screened.

The charity started the postcard campaign in 2004 when it was estimated there were around 8 deaths a week.

Chief Executive and founder, Alison Cox said: "It is time to relaunch this powerful campaign to help emphasise the importance of screening and the fact that so many of these tragic cases affecting fit and healthy young people could have been prevented. 80% of the young people who die from these tragedies have had no symptoms and it is only through screening that the condition can be identified.

"These 12 faces are just a 'snap-shot' of the problem and we need to keep up the pressure and engage support from as many MPs as possible to ensure we are doing everything we can to prevent other families from experiencing similar tragedies."

The charity is also marking it's 15th anniversary this year and CRY's starting the first ever initiative in the UK to screen every 14 year old (born in 1995- the year the charity was founded) across the South East.