Advice for clubs on ‘silent killer’
Bantry Blues GAA are organising a conference on the rare disease which claimed the lives of Tyrone football captain Cormac McAnallen and teenage rugby international John McCall earlier this year.
Among the speakers due to attend is a world authority on the phenomena, London-based Professor Bill McKenna. Addressing a Dublin conference recently, mainly confined to the medical profession, he recommended that teenage sports participants should have a thorough heart examination.
The Bantry conference, to be held in the Westlodge Hotel on Saturday, October 23, is open to all individuals and especially representatives of sporting clubs.
The club hopes the open debates will help sports organisations to prevent tragedies and identify people at risk. The issue of having defibrillators available at sports grounds will also be discussed at the conference.
“Taking preventative action is the key but all sporting organisations need to know what steps, such as screening, can be taken to reduce the risks,” a club spokesman said.
Mary Keohane from Bantry, widow of Sean Keohane, said a public debate on SADS was long overdue.
Her 39-year-old husband, a keep fit activist with no known serious health problems, died eight years ago as he was walking across a field.
She was not happy with the pathologist’s findings, and through her own initiatives, came in contact with Dr McKenna whose London Hospital team confirmed the cause of death as SADS.
On the advice of Dr McKenna, her children aged from eight to 18 years, have annual electrocardiogram (ECG) examinations.
Families with a history of heart disease, she said, should not turn a blind eye to the risks.
“It’s a silent killer. I think it’s incredibly naive of the Government and of major sporting organisations that consideration is not given to conducting preliminary screenings and having defibrillators at sports grounds,” Mrs Keohane said.
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