Maldon and Burnham Standard, 26th April 2019
Plume Academy in Maldon played host to a heart screening even organised by the Daniel Wilkinson Trust and Cardiac Risk in the Young (CRY). Almost 90 people, aged 14 to 35, were screened for potential heart defects such as the one which took the life of 24 year old footballer, Daniel Wilkinson.
Daniel’s sister, Helen, said: “Dan had arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy, an inherited condition that causes the replacement of cardiac muscle with fibrous, fatty tissue. It causes the walls in the heart chamber to become thin and stretched, impacting how the blood is pumped around the body and causing abnormal heart rhythms which can lead to sudden cardiac death.”
The Daniel Wilkinson Foundation, set up by Helen and one of Daniel’s friends just weeks after his death, has already been instrumental in saving the life of a young person. A defibrillator donated by the foundation to a football club helped save the life of a 14 year old boy. “We expected this would be in the next 10 to 15 years – never in the first 18 months. I suppose it actually shows how often these tragedies can happen and why it is so important to have access to defibrillators in such cases ,” Helen said. Read More
