£10,000 needed to screen town's young adults

The charity Defibrillators For All needs to raise the five-figure sum to make sure the screening goes ahead on June 2 and 3.

The charity’s founder Deborah Slator said research from Cardiac Risk in the Young showed that about 1 in 200 will be identified with a condition that could cause fatality or illness in the future.

She said: “Each school year in our town has 180 pupils. Potentially one of those 180 may show as needing further medical intervention.

“The young person may have shown no signs at all that they have a pre-existing condition but we don’t want to take a chance with any of them.

“Parents can research sudden cardiac arrest and it will shock them. We hope they will get behind our campaign and help us to raise the money needed to provide this screening.

“If it could save even one young person’s life it will be worth it.”

According to Deborah, more than a dozen young people die suddenly each week in the UK of previously undetected heart problems.

So far Defibrillators For All has provided 50 public access defibrillators (PADS) for Whittlesey.

This means no other town in the country has as many PADS per person, said Deborah.

She added: “We now need to focus on our young people to ensure the town is as heart safe as possible.”

To donate to the charity, visit: https://www.justgiving.com/d-f-a. For more information on the screening, visit: http://www.c-r-y.org.uk/cardiac-screening/.