Birkenshaw boy honoured with free heart checks for young people

BBC News

22-02-2025

Free heart checks are being offered to young people in West Yorkshire thanks to funds raised by the family of an eight-year-old boy who died from a cardiac arrest. Jasper Cook, from Birkenshaw, died in January 2022, three days after he fell ill with Covid-19. His mother, Kim, said the family were determined to help save other young lives and have raised money for the screening event through the charity Cardiac Risk in the Young (CRY). The event, which was open for anyone aged between 14-25 to book appointments at Jasper's old school, Birkenshaw Primary, began at 10:00 GMT.
It is the second time the event has been held, with the first one screening about 200 people last year. Of those, about 30 people were referred for further checks on their heart, Mrs Cook said.She said Jasper was a fun-loving boy who loved playing with Lego, going to school with his friends and learning about space. Along with Jasper's father, Ian, and their children Lily, Rowan and Sorrel, she said they would always feel a part of their family was missing. She said: "Our beautiful family has been devastated and this will forever have a lasting impact on us all."We are desperate to to keep Jasper's memory alive and that is why we have set up a memorial fund within CRY. "All the money we raise will be used to fund screening days and support research, as we want to help save young people. "No parents should have to go through the devastating loss of their child. If we can prevent even one family going through the excruciating heartbreak we have had to endure then we will feel we have done some good in a world that sometimes feels broken."
Jessica Zottola, 31, from Gomersal, was diagnosed with a heart problem after it was picked up at the last screening event in July.She said: "I saw it on Facebook and thought, you hear that many young people now with heart problems and a lot of the time they end up being fatal, and you never know they have anything wrong with them. "My husband had a check as well, he walked out absolutely fine. I came out of my ECG and the doctor wanted to see me. "They said that they could see some extra heartbeats on my ECG which turned out to be coming from a faulty valve that I've got. "I've got some blood regurgitating back through the valve making one of my chambers a bit larger than it should be, which is the reason for the extra heartbeat as my heart catches up with itself."Mrs Zottola said she is now on medication to control heart palpitations, and is thankful it was picked up when it was. "I'm just really grateful that I found out at this age, and can treat it and stop it from getting any worse than it is now," she said.Mrs Cook, who counts skydiving among her fundraising challenges, said she and her family would continue to raise money for more screening events in the future.She said: "Losing a child is horrendous and we just want to make sure that we do the best we can."We want to do anything we can to try and make sure that his memory is kept alive and that it is a positive thing that we come through."An inquest into Jasper's death was unable to determine whether it had been caused by an underlying heart defect.Listen to highlights from West Yorkshire on BBC Sounds, catch up with the latest episode of Look North or tell us a story you think we should be covering here.