Meeting of the Parliament

Meeting date: Tuesday, June 19, 2018

Official Report 1233KB pdf

Time for Reflection

Good afternoon. Our first item of business today is time for reflection, for which our leader is Abby Lang, head girl of Harris academy in Dundee and campaigner for awareness of sudden cardiac death in young people in association with the charity Cardiac Risk in the Young.

Presiding Officer and members of the Scottish Parliament, thank you for this opportunity to address you. Today, I want to reflect on an issue that I care about and which has motivated me to take action.

Sudden cardiac death in the young is instant, unexpected and, in most cases, preventable. As a carer for my granny who had motor neurone disease, I knew that her diagnosis was terminal, so I could prepare for her passing. However, families and friends of young sudden cardiac death victims are not afforded that period of psychological adjustment.

For my Scottish baccalaureate in science interdisciplinary project, I researched sudden cardiac death in young people. I discovered that, shockingly, every week in the United Kingdom at least 12 young people under the age of 35 die suddenly from a previously undiagnosed heart condition, and 80 per cent of those deaths occur with no prior symptoms or family history.

I have been actively raising the profile of the national charity Cardiac Risk in the Young, known as CRY, which believes that every 14-year-old should have access to optional free heart screening. In March, the British Heart Foundation revealed that people with potentially deadly heart conditions are too often not diagnosed until a life-threatening cardiac arrest or sudden death in the family. That highlights the importance of CRY’s screening programme, which tests around 27,000 young people across the UK every year.

Bereaved families usually finance CRY-conducted community screenings. As a senior black belt in karate, I signed up for a test, because I wanted reassurance that I can physically exert myself during cardiovascular activity without the risk of exacerbating a hidden heart condition. Electrocardiograms examine the electrical activity in our hearts; fortunately, mine was normal. It was paid for by the Peter McAvoy memorial fund; the 22-year-old talented footballer from Dundee died of an undiagnosed heart condition while on a soccer scholarship in America.

This coming weekend, the memorial fund’s 200 cardiac screenings in Crieff and Dundee are fully booked, confirming the demand for testing. The same number of individuals were screened last year, resulting in six onward general practitioner referrals and potentially saving those young lives.

I feel that it is fitting that, in Scotland’s year of young people, this issue is addressed. Shakespeare’s King Lear observed:

“Nothing will come of nothing.”

As a Scottish nation, we are responsible for the health of young hearts, so my hope is that we can work together to do something.