The club is offering the opportunity to test your son or daughter for the heart disease Cardiomyopathy. The screening is being facilitated by the charity Cardiac Risk in the Young (CRY) hence the request for donations of between £35 per player.

This follows the tragic death of one of our Youth Players Charlie Ibrahimi back in 2013.

On behalf of Kathy Ibrahimi
On October 4th 2013 our 16 year old son, Charlie Ibrahimi, died in his sleep. We were told it was his heart. He had a condition called Cardiomyopathy, an enlarged heart, which meant that it had become incompetent to such a point that it had just stopped. Although it was over two years ago now, I can recall with so much detail, going in to wake him for college only to discover with horror that he had no pulse. The hours, days, months that followed have been the toughest we have had to endure.

Some of you might remember Charlie. He was a cheery soul with a cheeky sense of humour and had many friends. He loved playing rugby both at school and for Teddington Rugby Club. He played both tight head prop and loose head prop at school and for the Antlers. He always gave his all in every game and, win or lose, he would come off the pitch and find his Mum or Dad's face in the crowd with a big smile.

Since Charlie's death we have been raising money for a charity called Cardiac Risk in the Young (CRY) who carry out research into young sudden death and offer counselling to the bereaved families. They also offer a heart screening for young people between the ages of 14 and 35 and are able to support those who are found to be suffering from a heart condition through their cardiac unit at St George's Hospital.

According to research at CRY: 12 YOUNG PEOPLE DIE EVERY WEEK IN THE UK OF AN UNDETECTED HEART CONDITION. This is unacceptable and they are lobbying the government for there to be national heart screening of all 14 year olds.

Teddington Rugby Club have agreed for CRY to hold a private screening day on Sunday 3 April in the clubhouse which will be open to any players 14 and over to come and get an ECG to check out their hearts. It's a simple ECG test and won't take more than 15-20 minutes. Book online at www.testmyheart.org.uk. Enter password Teddington28, click 'places available' on bottom left hand side of screen then select one of the available time slots.

The sad fact is that Charlie's death might have been avoided if he had been offered heart screening. This is a silent killer in that a heart can just suddenly stop beating in young people who are otherwise perfectly fit and healthy. Charlie had no symptoms before hand. He didn't suffer from dizziness, fainting or breathlessness. He had just taken his GCSEs and was looking forward to a new start at Esher college.

We are looking forward to seeing as many Teddington players as possible on the day and we hope this screening will be fitting way to remember Charlie.

Kathy Ibrahimi