The Courier & Advertiser (Angus and Dundee)
Schoolgirl in call for £50 test to save young from killer heart condition
Parliament: MSPS urged to introduce screening in Scottish schools
A campaigner from Dundee pleaded with MSPS to help her tackle a phenomenon that kills hundreds of young Brits a year.
Harris head girl Abby Lang followed in the footsteps of Nelson Mandela and the Dalai Lama to deliver the Time for Reflection speech to the Scottish Parliament yesterday.
The 18-year-old is calling for universal screening in schools to prevent young sudden cardiac deaths (YSDC), which would cost an estimated £1 million a year in Scotland.
Her push for a new national strategy that would fix flaws in the approach to YSDC, including its under-reporting as a cause of death, was buoyed when all 59 Scots MPS backed her campaign on Monday night.
After her speech, Abby said: “There is a long way to go. We are moving in the right direction, but we are not yet where we need to be.”
Abby was supported in the Holyrood gallery by Peter Mcavoy, who lost his 22-year-old footballer son, Pete, three years ago.
Centre-back Pete suffered a cardiac arrest, which was linked to an undiagnosed heart condition, while studying in the US.
His father urged politicians to put some of the extra £2 billion, which the UK Government says is coming to Scotland from NHS funding increases in England and wales, into a free screening programme.
Mr Mcavoy said a test would cost no more than £50 per school leaver, adding: “That’s a drop in the ocean in terms of NHS funding.”
“There is a big resource issue in the health service and it is about prioritising.
“As the father of a son who died, to me it is the top priority.
“I understand the NHS will have many others, but surely 12 young people dying needlessly a week in the UK should be one?
“If my son had the chance of having a heart test then he wouldn’t be dead.”
Abby and Mr Mcavoy are campaigning for the Cardiac Risk in the Young (CRY) charity, which was set up in 1995 to reduce the number of young sudden cardiac deaths.