Cardiac Risk in the Young (CRY) will now be able to add 20 more dates to its “heart screening calendar” through a generous new partnership with Rolls-Royce Submarines Ltd. It’s all thanks to the efforts of one of its employees; one of CRY’s long-standing campaigners and fundraisers, Dave Hughes.
Along with his wife Sue and daughter Kim – plus huge support from family, friends and the wider community – Dave’s enduring efforts have raised over £380,000 for CRY, in memory of their son, Daniel, leading to around 4,280 heart screenings for teenagers and young adults. Daniel was just 28 when he died in his sleep from a previously undiagnosed heart condition, in March 2015.
To date, 192 young people, aged 14-35 have been referred for further investigation for a potentially dangerous heart condition, having been tested at a screening session funded in memory of Dan.
As well as screening many young people from around their local area, and at CRY’s National Screening Centre in Surrey, Dan’s family have also funded screenings in Cumbria, Cheshire, Leicestershire and 2 sites in Derbyshire. And now, thanks to this incredible charitable support, eligible employees at the Rolls-Royce Submarines site in Derby as well as young people working at (or living locally to) its other satellite sites will also have the opportunity to be tested by CRY’s expert screening team, across the next 5 years.
Dave Hughes comments; “I’m really pleased this has happened, it will be of benefit to my younger work colleagues for many years to come. We have already held two screening sessions on site, both of which were oversubscribed within an hour of registration going live. I would like to thank Unite the Union nuclear power branch who played a large part in securing this commitment from Rolls-Royce.”
Rolls-Royce Submarines President Steve Carlier said: “Dave is an inspiration to us all and, as a company that puts the health and safety of our people above all else, we were happy to support this important cause. Thanks to Dave’s efforts, previous screenings we’ve held have uncovered undiagnosed conditions in a handful of our colleagues, which shows how invaluable these screenings really are.”
Dave’s son Daniel (a loyal Stoke City fan) was a fit, sporty and very popular local postman and his sudden death caused shockwaves across his entire local community. The Hughes family initially set out to provide a minimum of 200 local young people in the West Midlands with access to annual heart screenings. However, after their fundraising and screening targets exceeded all expectations, they have continued their campaign, as well as opening a memorial garden to Daniel at Audley Football Club where he used to play as well as purchasing vital new screening equipment for CRY.
And, in March 2020, Daniel’s Memorial Fund’ also added a new, state of the art mobile screening unit to CRY’s fleet of ‘vans’ which travel the length and breadth of the UK. Costing around £25,000, the new vehicle continues to attend CRY screenings and will facilitate the testing of around 50,000 young people screened during its time of service with CRY.
Dr Steven Cox, CRY’s Chief Executive, adds, “We are hugely grateful for this significant level of support from Rolls Royce which, via The Daniel Hughes Memorial Fund, will help to widen access to specialist cardiac screening for young people. As always, I would like to express my thanks to Dave Hughes for his tireless campaigning and for the role he played in securing this funding and very special acknowledgement from his employers. We couldn’t do what we do without the dedication and vision of families across the UK who all share our mission of helping to prevent sudden cardiac death in young people.”
