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Becky's brother Bradley with Beckie’s friends Natasha Huntley and Jade Ross wearing a tribute T-shirt |
Family’s agony after teenager Beckie is found dead in her bed
Girl is latest victim of sudden death condition that kills hundreds every year
THE home of Rebekah Borg is decorated everywhere with pictures of her. Every square inch of the Camden Town flat holds a memory reminding loved ones of her absence.
Beckie, as she was known to friends and family, became one of around 500 young victims of Sudden Arrhythmic Death Syndrome (SADS), which gives no warning and strikes down seemingly healthy people. She died seven weeks ago today (Thursday). Her mother, Toni Scoullar, returned to their Lyme Street home to find her bubbly 18-year-old daughter lying dead in her bed.
Now, she and the rest of Beckie’s family and friends are campaigning for more research into the condition that killed her.
Beckie, who was a trainee beautician – never happier than when she had her make-up bag open or a chalk lollipop in her mouth – had the hereditary genetic condition.
It causes heart attacks through an irregular heartbeat in those with no structural physical defects. It typically affects young people when they are exercising, sleeping or under emotional strain.
Toni said: “She was the kind of girl who would do anything for anybody to make them feel happy. She’s left such a big void in our lives. We’re all a bit lost.
“This is all I can do – raise awareness, raise money, hopefully find a cure, and then other parents don’t have to feel this pain.”
Funding into arrhythmia is much lower than coronary heart defects, and accounts for just 2 per cent of the British Heart Foundation’s research budget.
Dr Pier Lambiase, a SADS expert from University College London Hospital, said the condition needs more backing.
“It’s equivalent to a jumbo-jet load of young people who are otherwise fit and healthy that crashes each year,” he said.
Dr Lambiase wants a national heart screening programme to evaluate families affected by sudden death, and called for research into the testing of young athletes.
Anne Jolly, founder of SADS UK, a charity that aims to prevent sudden death and promotes awareness of the condition, warned “until people realise how often this is happening” research and funding may not reflect that.
“That is what will drive the research,” she added, calling for all 11-year-olds to be assessed.
Beckie’s family and friends, who printed T-shirts to wear to her funeral at St Pancras Old Church last month, insist people deserve to be given a chance to save themselves.
Beckie had some symptoms of the condition, such as dizziness and tummy aches, but because the family knew nothing about SADS she was never checked out.
Beckie, who didn’t drink or smoke, could have been struck down by SADS at any time.
Toni said: “It’s absolutely devastating to have this wonderful person taken away so suddenly and having to understand I’m never going to see her again.”
Beckie’s brother Bradley, 22, added: “If we knew about SADS, then we would have done something that maybe would have stopped this awful thing happening to Beckie.”
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