LAURA Day is in a better position than most to understand the hidden dangers of heart problems in the young.
She is the latest name on our Stop the Heartbreak campaign roll of honour, lending support to the bid to raise awareness.
As a child Laura, 23, was diagnosed with Kawasaki disease, which affects the muscles and arteries leading to the heart.
The shop assistant, who works at Marks & Spencer, has suffered problems recently, including palpitations, which doctors are investigating.
However, had it not been spotted early, it would have remain hidden for years and is the kind of condition that can result in sudden heart attacks – particularly under stress like exercise.
"My mum is a nurse and she kept taking me back to the doctor and the hospital because she knew my symptoms weren't something simple," she said.
"It was eventually an Australian doctor who found out what was wrong.
"If it hadn't been spotted, it's the kind of thing that you can drop down dead on the pitch from."
Laura, from Abbeydale, was diagnosed with the disease when she was just two and a half years old.
The Citizen's Stop the Heartbreak campaign is being run in conjunction with the charity CRY – Cardiac Risk in the Young.
Twelve people a week aged 14 to 35 die in the UK from heart conditions they had no idea they had.
We want to raise money for CRY's work as well as awareness of the issues and are working to secure a pledge to bring a mobile heart screening unit to the county.
Laura is backing the campaign because she wants to see heart conditions in young people treated with more respect in hospitals.
She said: "Sometimes when I've been to hospital they haven't really taken it too seriously and hopefully this will just help to make them think twice when it comes to young people coming in with heart problems."
