A COLWYN Bay schoolboy is urging young people to follow his lead and get their hearts examined after a recent tragedy.

Tom Hughes, a Year 9 pupil at Rydal Penrhos School in Colwyn Bay, took it upon himself to book a cardiac screening after a family friend suddenly passed away due to an undetected heart condition.

The 14-year-old sought out organisation Cardiac Risk in the Young, who offer subsidised ECG and Echocardiogram screening to all young people between the ages of 14 and 35.

He said: “Often you don’t think about something until it happens to you or one of your close friends. Last year my godmother Sandy Bennett rang us to tell us that her brother, Mick had collapsed and died suddenly playing football.

“It was a really big shock. He was a fit, healthy and loved sport.

“Sandy wanted us all in the family to have heart scans with an organisation called CRY to try and avoid another tragedy.

“I went to a scanning day in Abergele. I had an ECG of my heart and there were cardiologists there who checked it looked healthy. I was lucky that mine looked in good shape.”

The talented cricketer, who represents Prestatyn, is now looking to offer advice for anyone looking to get screened themselves after learning a great deal about the subject during the CRY visit.

“While I was there, I found out that the CRY organisation is trying to encourage all 14 to 35-year-olds to get scanned,” he added.

“If the cardiologists can pick up on a problem and treat it there is a much better chance of avoiding people collapsing.

“Any problems with a heart scan can be referred and treated.

“I want to pass on this information so that anyone who wants to get checked can and hopefully the number of people and families who have to go through what Sandy and her brother went through will drop.”