Frost family’s £1.5m heart screening fund
THOUSANDS more patients at risk of deadly inherited heart conditions will be screened after the launch of a £1.5million genetic testing service.
The new service is being funded by the family of the late Sir David Frost and the British Heart Foundation (BHF) charity.
The Miles Frost Fund was created in memory of Sir David’s eldest son, who died of a hidden heart condition, hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM), in 2015 aged 31. The fund, which makes genetic testing for the condition more easily available, has hit its £1.5million target in just two years.
The BHF estimates that up to 120,000 people across the UK could be living with HCM, while 600,000 could be carrying a similar faulty gene that puts them at high risk of having a cardiac arrest or heart attack. The money raised is helping to fund six specialist inherited cardiac condition clinics across the UK, with more centres set to receive funding in March.
Sir David died from a heart attack at the age of 74 in 2013.
His widow Lady Carina and younger sons Wilfred and George did not discover that the broadcaster’s post-mortem examination had shown he had HCM until four months after Miles’s death.
A family spokesman said: “Miles’s death was absolutely devastating.
“But what made it more tragic was finding out that it could have been avoided.”
To find out more or to make a donation, visit bhf.org.uk/milesfrost-fund.