Organisers of a heart screening event in Ruddington at the weekend say they were delighted by the turnout.
Hosted by Ruddington Village Football Club in the ‘Jubilee Clubhouse’ at Elms Park, a hundred young people aged from 14 to 35 went along to be tested by a specialist team from the charity Cardiac Risk in the Young (CRY). They completed a medical history questionnaire and echocardiograms (ECGs) were carried out.
CRY’s community visit on Saturday (27th July) was made possible by recent club fundraisers, with both players and local people benefitting from the screening session. The need for such heart tests has been highlighted by increased media coverage of undiagnosed cardiac problems in apparently fit at healthy people, such as Fabrice Muamba, Christian Erikson and Tom Lockyear.
Rob Maddams, co-manager of the U8 yellows team (pictured top centre with Chairman Nev Powell on the left, and Junior Football Officer Craig Sullivan on the right) says: “The club has been fundraising for CRY this year and has raised £6500, which is enough to do a screening for the community. It is also a story that is close to me as I lost my brother Jack to an undetected heart problem in 2008 at just 17.”
Saturday’s heart screening was held in Jack’s memory. The test results from the day are confidential, but any young person needing it would have been referred by the onsite Doctor for further cardiac investigation.
