Our lives changed forever on the 15 September 2009, this is the day that our precious 23-year-old Daughter Zoë was taken from us by a silent killer called “SADS”
Zoë was only 23years when she died suddenly in her sleep. Zoë worked as a fitness instructor and was fit and healthy prior to her death. As far as the family are aware there have been no cases of sudden death or cardiac problems in the young in either of our families.
Zoe spent the day before her death with her sister, and the evening laughing and joking around with her family and best friend Ben. We were all unaware of the devastation that was to come; she didn’t have any symptoms of any illness. Zoe died suddenly in her sleep that evening.
The family were only made aware of “SADS” sudden adult death syndrome after Zoë’s death. We also learnt that tragically12 young lives are lost each week as a result of this, recent research not yet published has increased this figure to 36, the numbers of deaths may be higher because records are not kept and coroners will often pass deaths off as natural causes due to the time and cost factor of researching further to find specific causes of death.
It was more distressing to learn that lives could be saved if children were screened with a simple ECG scan, this would detect conditions and allow them to be treated, again costs and lack of specialist cardiologists prevents this from taking place.
With SADS you don’t have the opportunity to pray for Childs survival, have the chance to say goodbye or even be there with them to hold their hand as they pass away. They are taken away from you suddenly with no prior warning; the whole family have been left in extreme shock as well as total disbelief and devastation.
Further information about SADS can be found at www.c-r-y.org.uk click onto the link my story to see many other families stories the same as ours.
In Zoë’s memory we are raising money for CRY (Cardiac Risk in the Young) Charity to fund the cost of ECG screening sessions for young adults throughout the west midlands, this will help save lives and prevent other families going through this tragedy.
