One in ten people whose hearts were scanned in a health drive event dedicated to a tragic Birmingham schoolgirl has been referred for further tests.
Parents Evelyn and John Linforth, whose 16-year-old daughter Alison collapsed and died from Sudden Adult Death Syndrome, raised thousands of pounds to organise a special testing day in Longbridge on Saturday.
They revealed a cardiologist sent 10 per cent of those tested for a more detailed echo-cardiogram test.
Players from the England under-18 rugby squad were among more than 100 people whose hearts were monitored with ECG and echo-cardiogram machines at Longbridge Methodist Church, where Alison worshipped.
Her dad, John, a 48-year-old bank worker, of Greatstone Road, Northfield, said: "If just one life can be saved by these tests, it will all be worth it. There are more and more cases of teenagers and young adults just dropping down dead unexpectedly when the heart stops like Alison's did.
"But the only way of diagnosing a problem is by doing random heart tests."
Mum Evelyn, a 49-year-old physiotherapist assistant at Birmingham Children's Hospital, who was at the event with 24-year-old Gemma, said: "it is emotional because this day is in memory of Alison and our way of trying to stop other families having to go through what we did."
The England Youth rugby team doctor Phil Riley was in Birmingham for a game and brought along players Andrew Forsyth, Christian Wade, Ollie Hayes and Lee Iniolek. SADS often strikes young people playing sport.
Alison died on her first day at Cadbury Sixth Form College, Kings Norton, in September 2003, due to an extremely rare electrical abnormality within the heart that would only have been identified by a heart test.
Cardiac Risk in the Young helped organise the day and anyone interested in sponsoring another heart screening day in Tamworth, which costs £6,000, should contact CRY's Roy Ball on 0121 681 8189.
