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A Cambridge University student who died from a sudden cardiac arrest a year before she was expected to graduate has been honoured with a first class certificate.
Languages student Clarissa Nicholls was 20 when she collapsed and died while hiking in France in May 2023.
The keen athlete was later found to have an undiagnosed life-threatening condition – arrhythmogenic cardiomyopathy – and her friends have so far raised more than £50,000 to fund ECG heart screening days for other students.
At a graduation ceremony on Thursday, Clarissa’s parents Hilary and Simon Nicholls were presented with their daughter’s certificate at the university’s Senate House congregation.
Miss Nicholls was studying French and Italian at Trinity Hall, and at the time of her death was abroad in her third year, as part of her four-year degree.
She had been working for a publishing company in Paris and just days before her 21st birthday took a hike in the Gorges du Verdon with her flatmate where she collapsed, and died.
Nearby hikers – one of whom was trained in first aid – had rushed to help, performing CPR before an air ambulance arrived at the remote spot, but it was too late.
