TEENAGER Colin Hankin was just 18 when he died suddenly in his sleep two days after his birthday.

Tomorrow, Friday, marks 18 years since his death which left his loved ones in shock about how this could happen to a healthy young man with his entire life ahead of him.

“The worst thing about this year is that I have lived as long with Colin as without him,” said his mum Angela.

“Each year it takes you right back to when it happened.

As the years go by you hope time will be the biggest healer but it’s all the little occasions that he’s not here for.

“The number 18 is always going to be hard no matter what.

“They say anniversaries are a time for people to remember but it’s with me every day – I miss him every single day.”

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Colin was a healthy, sports-mad teen who had only visited his doctor three times in his life – twice for a cold and a third time complaining of chest pains.

His cause of death was later identified as sudden arrhythmic death syndrome (SADS) –  a disturbance of the heart's electrical signal.

Since Colin’s death, Angela, with the support of her family including husband Grant and daughter Gemma Hankin, has courageously channelled her grief into creating a lasting legacy to Colin, helping to save the lives of strangers she has never met.

Angela has spent the past 18 years working with the charity SADS UK to raise awareness and fund lifesaving equipment for schools and community centres.

The 59-year-old, from Woolston, said: “You want to prevent another family from going through what we went through.
“It does pain me when I read about another life that has been lost.

“It won’t the save the world but if I can save one person then I will know that it’s all been worth it.

“It has been very hard but I have my daughter and two grandchildren who always put a smile on my face.”

AFTER her sons’s death, Angela Morris turned to SADS UK for answers to help her to try to come to terms with the unthinkable loss of Colin.

The charity was officially launched just months before Colin’s death in a bid to help save lives, provide information and fund research and medical equipment to prevent premature sudden cardiac death.

Angela said: “It has come a long way since then.

“You now hear about people who have been diagnosed and are living with the condition.

“Colin died in October 2000 and I became involved quite quickly after that.

“I was just trying to make sense of it all.”
Sudden arrhythmic death syndrome affects around 500 people in the UK every year. 

If a death cannot be explained, even after a post-mortem, and no cause can be found, this is called sudden arrhythmic death syndrome

SADS UK highlights the fact that young people and even children can be affected by potentially fatal cardiac conditions.

To find out more visit sadsuk.org.uk or if your family has experienced a similar heartache then email Angela on angela morris114@gmail.com.