Ipswich Star, 25th January 2022
In 2018, when he was 26 years old, Suffolk footballer Matthew Mackenzie received a shocking diagnosis of cardiomyopathy that cut his career short. Now, Matthew and his best friend George along with his dad, Ian Mackenzie, brother, Daniel Mackenzie, uncle, Keith Jennings and brother-in-law, Tom Monk have teamed up to complete a 23 mile walk from Shotley Gate to Landguard Point on February 12th in support of Cardiac Risk in the Young (CRY).
“The opportunity came up to raise some money for CRY charity [Cardiac Risk in the Young], which works very hard to help young people stay away from fatal heart attacks,” Matthew said. “I see myself as very lucky because I was in a position to be diagnosed while I was playing and doing physical exercise, but there are a lot of people who aren’t, and obviously find out the tough way.”
Matthew was diagnosed with cardiomyopathy after fainting twice and being sent to hospital for tests.
“What CRY do is help with screening in young people,” he continued. “They do the ECGs and use heart monitors before anything is diagnosed, before there are symptoms, just to make sure that people are healthy. Unless you have symptoms, you don’t normally get tested. It’s something that this charity is working hard to do, especially with young people in sport.”
