By Connla Young

connla@derrypost.com

A heartbroken County Derry woman has urged parents to test their children for hidden heart defects that could kill them.

Brigid Doherty’s daughter Marcella died from a rare heart condition almost four years ago and now the grief stricken mother is urging young people and their parents to take a £35 health check that could save dozens of lives.

Marcella, who ran a hairdressing business in Bellaghy, was found dead in the bathroom of a mobile home while on a break in Donegal in September 2005.

Last night the 24-year-old’s mum described how Marcella has shown signs of ill health in the days leading up to her death.

A week before her death Marcella collapsed and was taken to the Mid Ulster Hospital. After routine tests she was sent home where she continued to feel unwell.

Despite a return trip to the hospital Marcella wasn’t referred to a specialist and almost a week after becoming unwell she died suddenly.

Her family was later told the rare and deadly condition Arrhythmogenic Right Ventricular Cardiomyopathy had ended her short life.

Last night Brigid urged parents to take advantage of a service offered by the Cardiac Risk in the Young (CRY) charity which screen young people for unseen heart defects.

While SADS is often associated with the deaths of sportsmen and women the campaigning mother is keen to point out that it can strike any young person regardless of whether they play organised sports.

“A lot of people think it’s only people involved in organised sports who die suddenly but that is not the case,” she said. “But while Marcella was sporty, she was not involved in any clubs. If Marcella’s death does nothing else maybe it will encourage some other young person, some of her friends, to go and get screened.”

The heartbroken mother revealed she has kept her daughter’s hairdressing business, ‘Chop n Change’, open in honour of her memory.

“I just wanted to keep her the place open in her memory,” she said. “I couldn’t close it down. I would like to thank everyone for helping to keep the business open including Emma and Kelly and the customers.  I haven’t changed her room one bit, it’s just the same as it was the day she left it. In fact, I still drive her car, I don’t want to get rid of it. We have pictures of Marcella up in the house. Some people ask me how I can look at all the pictures all the time and I tell them that they are all I have to look at.”

For more information call CRY on 01737 363 222 or email cry@c-r-y.org.uk.

Meanwhile, a ceremony to recognise achievement at Hair Academy in Belfast, which Marcella worked closely with, was held yesterday.

The winner, The Works in Castlewellan, was presented with a cup in Marcella’s memory.