Services to honour heart victims

CHRISTMAS memorial services will be held in Dublin and Cork next month for victims of the fatal heart condition which killed Tyrone football star Cormac McAnallen.

Families who lost loved ones through sudden cardiac death and other heart disorders are holding the ecumenical events in Monkstown Co Dublin and Carrigtwohill, Co Cork.

Mr McAnallen, 24, died suddenly in his sleep in 2004 from the condition, which campaigners believe could kill up to 100 people aged under 35 years in Ireland this year.

The inaugural memorial service was held in Monkstown last year and was attended by Cormac’s mother, Bridget McAnallen, while President Mary McAleese sent a personal message.

Ms McAnallen is expected to attend this year’s event again.

Dublin mother Monica Martin, who lost her teenage son Conor to the silent killer in 2005, said it was decided to hold another memorial service in Co Cork this year for victims’ families in the south and west of the country.

She explained: “Christmas can be a difficult time for all of us who have lost loved ones. We hope this service will give us the opportunity to remember our loved ones and meet others who have suffered a similar loss.

“Not everybody can make it up to Dublin so we’re holding one in Cork also.”

Monica and other parents of victims later set up the Sudden Adult Death Support Group in 2005.

The memorial services are being held on December 8 in the Church of Ireland Parish Church in Monkstown and St Mary’s Catholic Church in Carrigtwohill.