Heart fund will keep Tracey's name alive

Published on Monday 1 June 2009 09:57

A TRUST fund set up in memory of a young woman who died from an undiagnosed coronary condition will be used to train junior doctors in the early detection of heart disease.

Tracey Culbertson, of Joppa, died in her sleep after suffering a massive heart attack at the age of 36 after living for years with the undiagnosed condition called coronary atherosclerosis.

A post-mortem revealed she had suffered several small heart attacks over the years and that her heart was so deteriorated she would have needed a transplant.

The shocking discovery that their daughter had been living with this condition and knew nothing about it led to her parents, Gina and John Brigain, starting a campaign to raise awareness and money in the hope of preventing similar tragedies.

Along with their other daughter Paula McPhail, 35, they have raised almost 8,000, which will go into the endowment fund to train new doctors, particularly cardiology trainees, in early detection of heart conditions.

Neal Uren, consultant cardiologist at the Royal Infirmary, told Mrs McPhail he had been "really impressed" with the efforts made by her family and friends in raising the money and wanted to use it in a way which would allow her name to live on.

He said: "It struck me that to focus the use of the money in the early detection of coronary atherosclerosis, it would be appropriate to actually set up a new endowment fund specifically for funding the training of doctors who wish to specialise in CT coronary angiography, which we will be driving forward in Edinburgh over the forthcoming years.

"That way I do feel that the intention behind the donation of the money meets the remit of the fund directly, and will also allow her name to live on as the impetus to this training."

Tracey, 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.

Following her death, her family discovered that at least 12 young people die suddenly each week in the UK of cardiac abnormalities, and they will continue to raise money to go into the endowment fund at the Edinburgh Royal Infirmary.

Mrs McPhail said: "I'm really happy that they've set up this fund, which will purely be used for training purposes, to honour Tracey's name because it means her name stays alive.

"It means that whatever they do in the future, people will know about Tracey. It's a nice end to what's happened and hopefully it will help lots of people."