Twelve powerful murals have been unveiled to highlight the tragic reality that 12 young people under the age of 35 are lost every week to sudden cardiac death in the UK.
In time with June’s UEFA Euro 2024 kick-off, each painting commemorates a talented young footballer or fan who died too soon.
Several of the artworks feature the emotive message ‘Til I Died’. At a time when the nation is looking forward to celebrating this iconic sporting event, it is yet another reminder of their loss for the families coming to terms with the sudden death of a loved one whose dreams of playing for, or supporting their national team, disappeared in an instant.
‘He’s with his dad now’
One of the murals – located in Digbeth, Birmingham – remembers 15-year-old Myles Christie, who played football from an early age. Myles suffered a sudden cardiac arrest in 2023 – exactly eight years to the day after the death of his father, Alden, also after a sudden cardiac arrest.
Widowed at 29, his mum Hayley has been left trying to explain these sudden deaths to her younger son Carter, who has lost his father and big brother.
“Initially I didn’t really want to be here. I was in shock. I didn’t want to be a widow or a single parent,” says Hayley.
“Looking back now I remember Myles having said to me that he was scared he might die young because of his dad. He was having bereavement counselling.
“I feel like he’s with his dad now, and he longed for him.”
Talented in football, basketball and athletics, with ambitions to be a PE teacher, Myles was in year 10 at school and studying for his GCSEs when, in May 2023, Hayley went to wake him and found him lying face down on the floor by his bed.
Despite Hayley’s fiancé Nathan performing CPR, and the best efforts of paramedics and a doctor at Birmingham Children’s Hospital where Myles was blue lighted, he couldn’t be saved.
“Losing your child is the worst thing that can happen to you. I never thought I’d lose my husband let alone my son. I thought our family had had its share of trauma,” adds Hayley.
“I think the work the BHF is doing in raising awareness of sudden cardiac death in the young is so important. This will sadly happen again to other families, but if we can raise awareness and do research into it, it will help. We need to talk about it.”
Largely unaware
The murals can be found across the UK and have or will be painted in Belfast, Birmingham, Cardiff, Chesterfield, Edinburgh, Glasgow, London, Newcastle, Nottingham, and Southampton.
It come as new research from the BHF reveals that the nation is largely unaware of the devastating effect heart disease has on young people.
A nationally representative survey has revealed that over a quarter of Brits (27%) don’t believe a heart condition can affect you if you are aged under 35.
A third of people surveyed (33%) say they are aware of a heart condition in their close biological family – and the same number say they have lost a close relative to a sudden cardiac death.
Those surveyed also severely underestimated the number of under 35s that die each week from sudden cardiac death, with most thinking it was seven people – almost half less than the shocking reality in the UK.
Meanwhile, over half (53%) of Brits said that high profile incidents of cardiac arrest – such as Christian Eriksen suffering a cardiac arrest at the Euros 2021 – made them more aware of heart conditions generally.
More funding
We are making an urgent call for more funding into research to understand the causes, and find cures, for sudden cardiac death.
There is more to understand about why sudden cardiac death can affect seemingly healthy young people, but in many cases these tragedies are attributed to inherited or congenital heart conditions.
The BHF is leading the way in cutting edge research and innovation into heart and circulatory disease and sudden cardiac death with groundbreaking studies underway across the UK and around the world.
The charity’s £30 million CureHeart programme – the most ambitious research grant in the BHF’s history – aims to develop the first cures for inherited heart muscle diseases.
Led by Professor Hugh Watkins at the University of Oxford, a team is developing revolutionary gene therapy technologies to target the genetic faults that can cause these conditions.
In another study, Professor Elijah Behr at St George’s, University of London, is hunting the genetic clues behind unexplained cardiac arrests.
Still more to do
But the nation’s biggest heart charity says more needs to be done to prevent the heartbreaking tragedies that strike 12 families every week in the UK.
Dr Charmaine Griffiths, our Chief Executive, said: “Too many lives are being taken too soon by sudden cardiac death. No-one should have to experience the loss of their child, sibling or parent, but sadly that is the cruel reality of heart disease – it doesn’t discriminate.
“As the nation celebrates the UEFA Euro 2024, these powerful murals serve as a reminder of the young football fans that have been snatched away by sudden cardiac death, and we want to thank the families who have kindly agreed to share their stories.
“The BHF is already carrying out groundbreaking research to treat and prevent the causes of sudden cardiac death, but there is still more to do. We urgently need donations to help us fund more lifesaving research to prevent other families going through this heartbreak.”
