Up to THREE young Australians under the age of 35 lose their lives to sudden cardiac death EVERY WEEK
This devastating statistic is one of which most Australians are unaware. Until awareness is raised and much more research is done, up to three Australian families will lose a dear son, daughter, brother or sister – this week and every week.
Olivia Nicholls passed away in her sleep at age 16
Olivia was passionate about life – she was so bubbly, positive and brought a ray of sunshine when she entered a room! Olivia was found unresponsive in her bed. Her father Mark started CPR and the ambos took over when they also arrived minutes later and applied a defibrillator. It was too late. She had passed away in the night. Shockingly, no known cause of death has yet been found. The family was and is still devastated. Since her death, the Nicholls family have raised over $300,000 to support research into sudden cardiac death in young people. “Olivia was only 16, had a wonderful life ahead of her and could have given so much to so many” says her mother Annette. This amazing and impressive young woman will not be forgotten.
Aaiden Bellingham lost his life at just 24 years old
Aaiden was coming home from footy practice and called his girlfriend to tell her he would pick up dinner on the way. He was expected home in twenty minutes. He never made it. When his girlfriend retraced the route from the footy ground to home, she found her beloved boyfriend dead by the side of the road in his car. To this day, his parents have no explanation for his death and that was 7 years ago. He had no death certificate until recently when, sadly, the coroner made the difficult decision to close his case due to no further leads to indicate what had happened to Aaiden. The cause of death read: “unascertained”. 7 years on, without a reason for his death, Aaiden’s parents and his girlfriend Ash work tirelessly to fundraise for research at The Centenary Institute to investigate the cause of Aaiden’s death. Every year they organise ‘The Bellingham Cup’ a soccer tournament run in conjunction with the Canberra Stars season kick off. This event has raised over $25,000 toward research into the cause of unexplained cardiac death in young people.
Peter ‘Wally’ Bamford passed away in his sleep aged 26
At just 26 years, ‘Wally’ went to bed one night at his girlfriend’s house and simply never woke up. After her shower, his girlfriend wondered why ‘Wally’ had not yet got up. ‘Wally’ never did get up. He was rushed to hospital and all the brothers and sister were called. Several of Wally’s mates were already at the hospital when he arrived but he was pronounced dead shortly afterwards. To this day, every year since his death 20 years ago, the whole family organise ‘The Peter (Wally) Bamford Memorial Concert’. This event has raised over $125,000 for research into unexplained cardiac death.
These deaths are not heart attacks from coronary artery disease, as seen more in older individuals, but are cases where hearts have gone into a dangerous heart rhythm due to gene faults. These tragedies happen without warning in many cases and a postmortem shows NO SIGNS OF HEART DISEASE. Only with continued research can Centenary’s researchers find the answers.
How our research is helping save lives
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To find answers to the cause of sudden cardiac death, our scientists take blood samples from patients with suspected genetic issues. They use a cocktail of ‘growth factors’ to re-program them to become stem cells – that they can differentiate into any kind of cell. In this way, heart cells identical to the patient’s can be used for testing in the laboratory.
This allows for ‘personalised medicine’ – the way of the future for so many therapies, using the patient’s own cells. Amazingly, the ‘heart cells in a dish’ can even be ‘exercised’ – making them beat at high rates – by electrical stimulation.
We can also test many different drugs on these real heart cells; many of which have yet to be tested in clinical trials on people. Your gift can achieve this ‘re-programming’ of cells by supporting the production of heart cells.
Awareness is key
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Lack of awareness generates two major issues. First, GPs and even specialists often cannot see past the otherwise healthy presentation of patients when they have had a dizzy spell, a fainting episode or a fast heart rate. It can be attributed to low blood sugar, anxiety or puberty. In most of the cases you will read about in the enclosed, after the deaths, some warning signs were often recalled. Hindsight is of no consolation. With further research supported by your kind support, we can address this issue – and save lives.
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Secondly, government funding is generally directed to areas which receive more publicity and awareness. Genetic testing of patients who have died from sudden cardiac death is vital. Not only for research but potentially to save the lives of other family members. Without this funding – the testing that has likely saved lives could not have happened.
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Lastly, your gift towards this life saving research can allow our scientists to discover more genetic variants responsible for sudden cardiac death, save more lives and most importantly – work towards a cure for this terrible condition.
