Team Ben Hammond is a fundraising group based near Tenterden in Kent raising funds and awareness for local heart screening events for young people between the ages of 14 & 35yrs.

Why?

In July 2016 15 year old Ben Hammond from High Halden died from an undiagnosed heart condition. This was sudden, unexpected and there were no symptoms or warnings. Ben was fit, healthy and very active, he loved the outdoors and had a real passion for farming. It is difficult to believe that such an active teenage boy could die of a condition which showed absolutely no symptoms. We have learnt that on average 12 young people a week die from undiagnosed heart conditions. Many of these conditions can often be picked up by heart screening, but this service is not offered on the NHS.

How?

Working closely with the charity Cardiac Risk in the Young (CRY) we have set up a memorial account where all funds raised go towards funding screening days which are carried out by CRY. A screening day costs £5000 and 100 young people can be screened in this time.

What happens at a screening day?

Most cardiac abnormalities can be diagnosed by having a simple ECG (electrocardiogram) test. On the day you will be required to fill out a medical history questionnaire, this will be followed by an ECG test and the results will be read by a cardiologist. If extra clarification is necessary an Echocardiogram is also carried out.

If you would like further information on the screening programme, or heart disease, please visit the CRY website.  We are also very happy to speak to you directly, or answer any further questions you may have.

Raising Funds

We have a Just giving page and you can find out more information on our upcoming events by following us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, just search for teambenhammond.