Dundalk FC Support ‘Cardiac Risk in the Young’ (CRY)
Dundalk FC leant support to ‘Cardiac Risk in the Young’ (CRY) by wearing t-shirts highlighting the charity to help raise awareness of Sudden Cardiac Death (SCD), ahead of the clash with Shamrock Rovers at Tallaght Stadium on Friday night.
A number of other League of Ireland clubs did likewise a fortnight ago, in an event organised by John Doyle.
On Saturday, 25-year-old Livorno midfielder Piermario Morosini died after suffering a cardiac arrest during an Italian Serie B game against Pescara.
Last month, then 23-year-old Bolton Wanderers midfielder Fabrice Muamba also suffered a cardiac arrest, during an English Premiership match against Tottenham Hotspur, but was revived and is currently continuing his recovery.
An estimated 60-80 people aged 1-35 years die of SCD every year in Ireland.
“We were originally meant to wear the t-shirts ahead of the game in Sligo but unfortunately we were unable to as, with the large number of events on, there were not enough t-shirts for both teams,” Club Media Officer Keith Wallace explained.
“We felt it was very important to ensure the club backed CRY and John Doyle in this, and we would like to thank Lucia Ebbs of CRY and Melissa Kelly at O’Leary PR for helping us to do so on Friday night.
“The Centre for Cardiac Risk in Younger Persons in Tallaght and CRY do fantastic work and they need all the backing they can get, and John deserves a lot of credit for organising this awareness campaign within the League of Ireland.
“There were over 3,000 people at the game and hopefully our support has helped to raise awareness of CRY and Sudden Cardiac Death.”
Dr. Deirdre Ward, Cardiologist and Co-Director of the CRYP Centre in Tallaght Hospital, said: “The Centre for Cardiac Risk in Younger Persons carries out cardiac testing free of charge. However, as we receive no government funding, CRY are responsible for keeping this service going.
“At the moment, we can evaluate up to 1,500 people per year, however with more funding for staff we could see up to 3,000 people per year. Ultimately, we need more funding to retain the service, or to be in a position to consider extending the service to sports screening as we would like.”
Michael Greene, Chairman of CRY, added: “One of our aims as a charity is to raise awareness of Sudden Cardiac Death and with teams such as Dundalk warming up wearing the CRY t-shirts we are reaching a wider audience and hopefully saving more lives.”
CRY is an Irish registered charity, which was founded in 2002. Funds raised are used by the charity to support families who have lost a relative to SCD, to raise awareness of the conditions that cause SCD, and to fund the activities of the Centre for Cardiac Risk in Younger Persons (CRYP) in Tallaght Hospital.
This Centre provides comprehensive cardiac evaluation of those who may be at risk from SCD either because of family history or worrying symptoms. The service is available to anyone in the country and is free to patients. The Centre receives no direct Government funding.
If you would like to support CRY, please go to their website, www.cry.ie, and click on DONATE NOW.
Credit to Sportsfile for the above photographs