A?CRY (Cardiac Risk in the Young) heart screening was held over the weekend of March 11 and 12, with 187 young people being screened and five referred for further investigations, writes Suzanne Cleave.

The event, held this year at The Haven, Budehaven Community College, was paid for by the Martyn Luckett Memorial Fund.

Martyn, from Hartland, tragically died in July 2008 from Sudden Adult Death Syndrome, aged just 19.

Since his death, his family have been raising money for CRY to fund heart screenings for young people.

Martyn’s mum, Brenda Luckett, was delighted with how the event went.

The family are currently thinking of new ways to raise money for the screening, as this year, and in the past, the screenings cost £35 a time, but it will be increasing to £50 a treatment. So whereas a two day screening has cost the memorial fund £7,000, it will, in future, cost £10,000.

But Brenda doesn’t want the fundraising or the screenings in the Bude area to stop.

“We hopefully will do it every year. This was our fourth year at Bude and the eighth year overall. Up to last year with money we raised, we have screened 1,228 young adults at a cost of nearly £39,000. We’ve raised double that, but that is after the charity takes their part.

“It’s been very emotional again, seeing the kids Martyn’s age. To me, Martyn’s still 19, I don’t know him as anything else.”

Brenda described her daughter, Charlotte Henderson, as the driving force behind the family’s charity work. Next month she will be taking part in the London Marathon to raise funds for the charity. She has raised the total needed, and anything above that will go towards the screenings.

If anyone would like to support Charlotte and make a donation, her page can be found at http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/fundraiser-web/fundraiser/showFundraiserPage.action?userUrl=inmemoryofmart

Brenda is now appealing for any suggestions of fundraising or if anyone would like to help to get in touch, by emailing her at [email protected]