Tragic young victims of cardiac disease

Campaign to raise awareness

The family of a teenager who died suddenly on holiday are joining a campaign to raise awareness of cardiac disease in the young.

Therese Field was 16 when she died in 1997. The teenager, who loved dancing, was in Year 11 at Clarendon House School in Ramsgate and was preparing for her GCSEs when she died. The school named their new performing arts block after Therese.

Her sister Tara Gore, who was 19 at the time, has now become a regional representative of the charity CRY (Cardiac Risk in the Young). The charity has printed postcards featuring the faces of other young people who have also died in similar circumstances.

Eight people under the age of 35 die each week in the UK in unexplained circumstances.

The charity wants to lobby MPs to get all children checked for possible heart conditions and a postcard has been sent to every MP. North Thanet member Roger Gale has already backed the charity.

Mrs Gore said: