FOURTEEN years ago, Aaron Dixon was at home with his family having been out the night before with his sister and his friends.
He was a fit and healthy 23-year-old who loved football and going to the gym.
When his dad Gary went upstairs to tell Aaron his tea was ready, he found his son unresponsive and immediately started CPR.
Mum Debbie called for the paramedics but it was too late.
Aaron had died following a cardiac arrest at just 23.
After his death, Aaron’s family were told he had arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy (ARVC) - an undetected genetic heart defect that can cause cardiac arrest, if undetected and untreated.
Over the past 10 years, Debbie, who is a former Kingsmead resident, has devoted her time and endless energy to raising money to fund heart testing for young people, provided by CRY’s (Cardiac Risk in the Young) UK-wide screening team, in a bid to detect these often hidden conditions.
And Debbie, who now lives in Clotton, Tarporley, has just screened her 10,000th young person through the heart screening programme she set up in memory of her son.
Debbie has been driven by a desire to ensure that no other parent should experience the same devastating grief, supported by her husband Gary, daughter Hollie and hordes of Aaron’s friends and their wider community.
The 10,000th heart screening carried by the Aaron Dixon Memorial Fund and CRY, took place at an event held in Debbie’s hometown of Tarporley at the War Memorial Hospital last Saturday, July 5, which had also provided the funding for this specific day of screening.
Twenty-year-old Charlie Mae Conway, also from Tarporley, was the 10,000th young person to be screened.
Charlie Mae Conway from Tarporley was the 10,000th person screened
She said: “I feel incredibly honoured to be the 10,000th person screened by CRY.
“Knowing Debbie, Gary and her family’s story makes this moment even more meaningful.
“Their strength, resilience, and dedication to help other young people get diagnosed with to help prevent young sudden cardiac deaths is truly inspiring.
“I’m so grateful for the opportunity to be screened and I can’t thank them enough for the work they do and the awareness it brings.
“I wish nothing but continued strength and happiness to Debbie, Gary, her family, and to anyone else who has experienced a similar loss.
“Their courage is helping to save lives, and that’s something truly powerful.”
To date, funds raised by Debbie and her community of supporters has led to 425 young people being identified with heart anomalies which have required referrals for further investigations and potentially lifesaving treatments.
Charlie Mae Conway with Debbie Dixon
Debbie said: “Every screening we have held has resulted in at least one, if not more, person, being referred for further, in-depth investigations, following a suspected abnormality being picked up by an ECG.
“Sadly, we know that every week in the UK, 12 young people aged 35 and under die due to an undiagnosed heart condition and so I’ve always believed that by supporting CRY, our fundraising and awareness work is going some way to preventing other families from the same suffering and honouring my son's memory in a meaningful way.”
Debbie has also successfully secured funding from The JD Foundation who became proud partners of the Aaron Dixon Memorial Fund in 2016 – a collaboration which has seen hundreds of athletes having their hearts tested, across a variety of sports.
And while Debbie has raised more than £780,000, funding 115 days of cardiac screening to date, her eyes are firmly set on hitting the million-pound mark sometime soon.
She added: “It’s quite simple really, I just want all young people to be screened.
“I want to keep Aaron’s memory alive and I don’t want anyone else to lose a child like we have.
“Yes, I’ve dedicated my life to this mission, but I’ve got my family and Aaron’s large circle of friends who are behind me every step of the way and who play a big part in Aaron’s Memorial Fund.
“They are my link to my precious son and I couldn’t do this without them all.”
CRY now screens around 30,000 young people aged between 14 and 35 every year across the UK and since the charity was first launched in 1995 has tested more than 330,000 young hearts.
One in every 300 people of those tested by CRY will be identified with a potentially life- threatening condition and, in 80 per cent of cases of young sudden death, there will have been no warning signs or symptoms.
CRY’s CEO Dr Steven Cox, said: “Debbie’s dedication over the past decade has been nothing short of extraordinary.
“Reaching 10,000 young people screened in memory of Aaron is a deeply moving milestone — not just for Debbie and her family, but for all of us at CRY.
“Every life potentially saved through these screenings is part of Aaron’s lasting legacy, and we are incredibly grateful for Debbie’s commitment to the prevention of young sudden cardiac deaths.”
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