Cardiac screenings in Glasgow in memory of 21-year old

Cardiac screenings for young people will be taking place today and tomorrow in memory of Euan Campbell, who suddenly died last year after having a cardiac arrest.

The 21-year old was playing football with work mates when his mum, Margaret Waddell, received a phone call to say he had collapsed.

She said: "Euan was a joker. He'd wind everyone up all the time. When you came in at night you just didn't know what was gonna happen because he was just there ready to play jokes and just laughed constantly. He always had a smile on his face."

Euan collapsed on Monday 13th August 2018 and did not regain consciousness. He died on Thursday 30th August 2018.

Talking about the days before he died, his mum said: "On the Sunday he'd gone to the Rangers game, he was out with his friends all weekend, he had his friends back to the house on the Saturday night - and then he was out with them on the Sunday when he went to the football.

"It was just normal - he went to work on the Monday, came home and got changed and went out, and that was it."

Since Euan's death, his former employer Arnold Clark has invested £150,000 into having defibrillators installed at their branches.

Cardiac Risk in the Young are hosting two screening days in Euan's memory in Glasgow this week - one today for Euan's colleagues at Arnold Clark in Hillington and one on Wednesday 23rd October which is now closed to the public.

They're targeting 14-35 year olds, as figures show since 2012, CRY has screened 5923 young people in Scotland, leading to 199 referrals.

19.year old Abby Lang, who is a campaigner for CRY, said: "Something not everybody appreciates is that when a young person dies from young sudden cardiac death it's a whole community that's impacted and it's devastating really and it's something that is preventable with having a national screening programme."

It's also been revealed around 12 young people in the UK under the age of 35 die suddenly from a previously undiagnosed heart condition every week. 80% of these deaths will occur with no prior symptoms.

CEO of CRY, Dr Stephen Cox, said: "In Italy where screening has been mandatory since 1982 for any person involved in organised sport and this is just young people who are part of a football club or another sports club who play at the weekend for a team - they've reduced the incidents of young sudden death by 89%."

More screening dates will be available in June and October next year in the city to give more people the opportunity to attend.

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