The family of a teenage girl who died from a rare and undetected heart condition has urged other young people to take part in health checks in Suffolk this weekend.
Laura Fox, 13, was found dead at her home in Woodbridge in August, 1998, and her parents, Robi and Kate of Borrett Place, have since dedicated themselves to helping others by raising thousands of pounds for the charity Cardiac Risk in the Young (CRY).
Now they are encouraging people in Ipswich and the surrounding area to have their hearts screened in a bid to prevent unnecessary deaths from undiagnosed heart conditions.
On Saturday, a cardiac screening session will take place at the Holiday Inn Hotel at The Havens, Ipswich. The clinic is a joint initiative between CRY and the Fox family.
Mr Fox, regional representative for the charity said: “It is very important to us that the money we have helped to raise will go some way to helping local people.”
Tests later revealed his daughter had died from a rare heart condition that along with other undiagnosed heart problems kills between four and eight young people every week in the UK.
The charity aims to avoid such tragedies by making basic cardiac screening more widely available and emphasise how much can be done if a heart condition is detected.
If left untreated undiagnosed heart conditions can lead to sudden death in apparently fit and active people.
People between the ages of 14 and 35 are being encouraged to attend the clinic to receive an electrocardiogram (ECG) test, a non-invasive and painless way of picking up most cardiac abnormalities. Money raised by the Fox family will fund the mobile screening programme carried out be a team of medically qualified personnel from a London hospital.
The screening will run from 9am until about 5pm. Appointments can b made online via the CRY website,
