Furness Parents Take Campaign For Young Hearts To Parliament With Michelle Scrogham
Parents from Furness are taking their campaign to Parliament, urging MPs to support stronger measures to prevent sudden cardiac deaths among young people.
The campaign centres on the experiences of local families who have lost young relatives to sudden cardiac conditions and are calling for improved prevention, awareness and access to appropriate cardiac checks. Their efforts are aimed at securing greater political recognition of the issue and encouraging the Government to take a coordinated approach to protecting young lives.
A meeting held in Barrow-in-Furness has brought together bereaved families, campaigners and their local MP to strengthen efforts to prevent sudden cardiac deaths among young people.
The event took place on Friday, 30 October, and was attended by 25 people, including representatives of Cardiac Risk in the Young (CRY), local supporters and Michelle Scrogham, MP for Barrow and Furness. It marked Ms Scrogham's appointment as chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Cardiac Risk in the Young and provided an opportunity to discuss a renewed campaign for a national prevention strategy.
Two local families played a central role in bringing the issue to political attention. Lesley Mease and Donna and Steve Parker have campaigned following the deaths of their children, Wilson Shepherd and Vicky Parker, who both died suddenly in 2023. Wilson was 25 and Vicky was 30. Their deaths, which occurred just two weeks apart, have motivated their families to raise awareness of potentially undiagnosed heart conditions and the importance of early detection.
The families have worked with CRY over the past three years, supporting its efforts to expand cardiac screening opportunities for young people. Their campaigning has included fundraising activities and efforts to encourage greater understanding of sudden cardiac death. They hope that improved access to screening, better awareness of warning signs and stronger national coordination will help identify potentially dangerous conditions before they lead to a fatal cardiac event.
The meeting also recognised the contribution of Dave Hughes, whose son Daniel died in his sleep from an undiagnosed heart condition in 2015, aged 28. Following his death, Dave, his wife Sue, daughter Kim, friends and the wider community established fundraising initiatives in his memory. Their efforts have raised £703,000, including £130,000 allocated by his employers towards a five-year screening programme, helping thousands of young people access heart checks.
Through the Daniel Hughes Memorial Fund, 8,167 young people have received cardiac screening. Of those, 396 were identified with abnormalities requiring further medical investigation. The findings demonstrate the potential value of screening in identifying conditions that might otherwise remain undetected. Some inherited or underlying heart conditions can cause sudden cardiac arrest, making early identification and appropriate medical follow-up important elements of prevention.
Mr Hughes also spoke about the importance of bereavement support for families dealing with the sudden loss of a child. Having experienced the impact of such a tragedy himself, he has become involved in supporting other bereaved fathers through CRY's peer-support programme. The meeting heard personal accounts from the families of Daniel, Wilson and Vicky, highlighting the lasting consequences of their deaths for relatives, friends and the wider community, as well as the determination to prevent similar tragedies.
Ms Scrogham said the families' experiences had made a profound impression on her and reinforced her commitment to raising the issue in Parliament. She has become chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Cardiac Risk in the Young and has supported calls for a national strategy bringing together cardiac screening, specialist expertise and better identification of potentially serious heart conditions. She has also signed CRY's pledge supporting the development of such a strategy.
The next stage of the campaign involved taking the appeal to Westminster. Ms Scrogham hosted a parliamentary event on 10 November during CRY's Raising Awareness Week, giving MPs from different political parties an opportunity to sign the pledge and demonstrate their support. The initiative is intended to build cross-party backing for a coordinated national approach to preventing sudden cardiac deaths among young people.
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