Alex Reid death: Heart conditions in young 'going undetected'

Alex Reid died in her sleep from a heart condition she didn't know she had

The mother of a teenager who died from an undiagnosed heart condition has said she fears the pandemic is stopping young people from being screened.

Alex Reid, from Rotherham, was a "happy-go-lucky, fit" 16-year-old when she died suddenly in her sleep in 2012.

Her mother Heather said more young people could now die without knowing they had an underlying condition.

Charity Cardiac Risk in the Young (CRY) said it had cancelled all of its 28,000 screening appointments since March.

"We had no idea Alex had a problem," her mother Heather said.

"She was a young, fit, happy-go-lucky person who was just about to start her adulthood."

Heather Reid is running 624 miles to raise money for a charity that screens young people for underlying heart conditions

Alex, who went to Sheffield High School, was one of 12 young people who die every week because of an undiagnosed heart condition, according to CRY.

"There's been a lot of charities like CRY who have suffered because of the pandemic. The screening that they do hasn't happened over the last year", Mrs Reid added.

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Dr Steven Cox, who is from CRY, said "everything's cut back massively" because of the coronavirus pandemic, leading to a drop in fundraising.

He said: "Since March, all of our screenings were postponed or cancelled, leading to more than 28,000 appointments being cancelled.

"There will have been almost 100 young people in that time who are living with potentially life-threatening conditions, who have not been identified."

To help raise money for the charity, Mrs Reid is attempting to run 624 miles - one mile for each young person who dies every year from an undetected heart condition.

There are 40,000 young people awaiting screenings run by Cardiac Risk in the Young

The money helps pay for heart screening that could have detected Alex's condition.

Mrs Reid said: "I do believe, I have to believe, she would have been picked up [if she had been screened].

"There's been lots of people we've screened have been picked up and they've had life-saving treatments due to it."

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