Ella Bury died unexpectedly eight years ago this month
A Coventry mum whose teenage daughter died suddenly of a cardiac arrest eight years ago has helped raise £17,000 so local young people can have heart screens to prevent history repeating itself. Ella Bury died in her sleep back in July 2014 and mum Karen Green has been fundraising ever since.
Ella was a fit, healthy, sport-mad teen partway through a tourism apprenticeship when her life was tragically cut short aged just 17. Karen, supported by close friends and family, has been a constant advocate and fundraiser for ensuring life-saving equipment is close at hand around Coventry and Warwickshire.
After managing to put over 20 defibrillators around the region over the years, she recently turned her attention to raising money for heart test screening events, so young people are able to see if they have undiagnosed heart issues. She hopes this will pre-emptively help tackle the root cause of such tragic deaths.
Karen told CoventryLive: “It was horrific to lose Ella. A healthy 17-year-old to pass away for no reason was totally unexpected. She was at home, comfortable, loved, happy – then she had her whole life taken away from her.
“So we decided to run an event in Ella’s memory which would be for heart screening. We did it through Cardiac Risk in the Young (CRY) but knew we’d need to raise a substantial amount of money to do it.”
So with her closest friends, Karen set about raising the money to hold heart screenings in the hope it would help save lives. At an event held at her local pub this weekend they reached the target they needed.
Karen and her close friends and family held a race night with a difference at the Raven Inn in Brinklow.
“On average 12 people between the ages of 14 and 35 die of a sudden cardiac arrest every week in the UK. A lot of them are fit, healthy and active, like Ella, who had no issues whatsoever. But you can’t just rock up at your doctors and say you want a test.
“So the screening enables people with any kind of worry to have a heart test. CRY also does a lot of research into the different conditions. Their website lists a range of different heart conditions, most of which you have heard of or know about until testing after a person dies or having a really smart doctor who spots it.”
With the race night, a raffle and several other fundraising events, Karen and her fundraising team have reached their target which means they will hold a heart screening which could save lives.
Karen’s work in the past has literally saved lives. A Nuneaton man’s heart stopped and he was revived using one of the machines she’d fundraised for.
If you want to donate and help the work Karen does, you can do so here .
