Pride of Britain: Son's shock death inspires Essex mum to fund life-saving heart checks

  • Helen Petley has been shortlisted for ITV News Anglia's Regional Fundraiser of the Year Award, as Andy Ward reports.

A mother whose son died in his sleep from an undiagnosed heart condition is helping to fund potentially life-saving cardiac screenings for other young people.

Tom Petley, from Essex, died at just 20 years old in April 2022.

A subsequent post-mortem examination found that he died from sudden arrhythmic death syndrome (SADS) – a rare condition where someone dies from a cardiac arrest with no obvious cause.

His mother, Helen Petley, has raised more than £16,000 to fund two screening days at Harwich and Parkeston Football Club which enabled almost 200 young people aged between 14 and 35 to have their hearts checked for free.

Helen and her family ran a stall at the recent Clacton Airshow. Credit: ITV News Anglia

Of those people, 26 were referred for further investigations after concerns were raised during their tests, with Miss Petley's efforts resulting in her being shortlisted for ITV News Anglia's 2024 Regional Fundraiser of the Year Award for the Pride of Britain Awards.

"The house was so still," said Miss Petley, as she reflected on the day she returned home from work to find that her son had died.

"I put my stuff down and I've gone upstairs, knocked on his door thinking he was on his Xbox or something, and it was like he was asleep.

"They think he'd been there as soon as he laid down. He just died.

"It was horrific having to ring his dad up and seeing his dad. I felt like I'd failed him because he was my son in my house. I think I didn't stop crying for the first three months. Those three months were the most horrific of my life."

A recent heart screening day, held at Harwich and Parkeston Football Club. Credit: Helen Petley

Miss Petley and other members of her family have spent many weekends taking part in car boot sales and auctions in a bid to raise as much money as possible for the Cardiac Risk in the Young (CRY) charity who carried out the tests in Harwich.

The two screening days so far cost more than £7,000 each to put on, with the family well on the way to funding another one in time for early next year.

"When a family like Tom's come forward and they want to raise funds for to give something back to their community, to help prevent another tragedy in their community - it's quite incredible," said CRY's chief executive Dr Steven Cox.

"It's really something we're very proud of as a charity to have so many families doing this, to raise funds, raise awareness, and offer these services in their community."

When asked what it would mean to win the award, Miss Petley said: "It would be an amazing achievement for someone that hates the limelight and hates being in the spotlight of anything.

"But, to be able to say that: 'We've done this as a team.' As Tom's mum, it would be a wonderful thing."

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