Family of heart attack victim call for tests and funding

Published on Friday 13 March 2009 08:49

WHEN Gina Brigain made arrangements with her daughter to meet for lunch the next day, she had no idea that would be the last time she ever spoke to her.

Despite being fit and healthy, Tracey Brigain, 36, of Joppa, died in her sleep that night after suffering a massive heart attack.

Following her death, a post-mortem revealed she had been living with an undiagnosed heart condition – called coronary atherosclerosis.

It also found she had suffered several small heart attacks over the years and that her heart was so deteriorated she would have needed a transplant.

Her family are now campaigning to raise awareness and money in the hope of preventing similar deaths.

They discovered that at least 12 young people die suddenly each week in the UK of cardiac abnormalities, and they are now raising money to go towards research into the so-called sudden death syndrome and are campaigning for heart scans for young people.

Ms Brigain's sister, Paula McPhail, 35, said: "In Italy they have screening programmes for kids who are about 13. A five minute ECG (electrocardiogram] could have prevented her death.

"We had no idea Tracey had a heart condition.

If we had just known, we could have done something about it but she wasn't diagnosed until her post-mortem."

During the four years before her death, Ms Brigain had felt unwell and had visited doctors on numerous occasions, but was never tested for heart problems.

Her family said she felt "sluggish" but her condition had been put down to depression.

Just before she died, she complained about having abdominal pain – which her family have now found out is the most common symptom in women who suffer heart attacks. Her sister wants to get this message out so people will know what to look out for.

She added: "If we can stop one family going through this it will be worth it. Her life isn't in vain

."

Ms Brigain, who worked as a personal assistant at Deloitte, died last September.

She was a relatively sporty person, who went to the gym, cycled and was a keen hill-walker.

Her distraught parents Gina and John want to raise as much awareness about the hidden heart condition as possible.

They held a fundraising event last week in memory of their daughter and raised around 7000 for the Coronary Atherosclerosis Fund at the Edinburgh Royal Infirmary.

Mrs Brigain said:

"The devastation this has left is horrendous and I never want anyone else to have to go through this.

"There are thousands of young people who go to bed and don't wake up and it's just called sudden death syndrome.

If this condition is detected early enough, people will have a chance to live."