Chronicle Live, 27th April 2019
On Saturday, David Jewell led a walk of 100 people to raise awareness of young cardiac death and funds for Cardiac Risk in the Young (CRY) in memory of his son, Damien. In 2001, 28 year old Damien passed away in his sleep due to an undiagnosed heart condition. Damien’s father has been striving to prevent other families from experiencing such tragedy by working with Cardiac Risk in the Young (CRY) to raise funds for heart screenings and research along with providing support to bereaved families. David has become CRY’s regional representative, helping to organise last year’s first ever North Tyneside’s Seaside Walk, the walk on Saturday being the 2nd occasion of the event.
“I had Damien in my thoughts when we were walking but, to be honest, he’s never far from my mind. I get a bit of a kick when I talk about him now, because at first I kept it all to myself, it’s how I coped. I find it much easier to talk now and this event was all about raising awareness, ” said David who walked with his wife, Brenda. He added, “there were over 50 who joined us on the walk and awareness was the key. Sudden cardiac death in young people is a silent killer and statistics show at least 12 healthy youngsters die of this every week. That is 12 too many,”
Dr Steven Cox, chief executive of CRY, stated: “The people of the North East have always been so supportive in helping us to spread the word about CRY’s important work in striving to prevent young sudden cardiac death, as well as working with families and young people who have been affected… The Seaside Walk was inspired by our regional rep David Jewell and I would like to take this opportunity to thank him and his local friends for their ongoing support.” Read More
