Do my kids have death sentence in their genes?

A mum fears her three tots could have the same deadly heart condition that killed their dad.

Devastated Cathy McCarron’s children all aged under three will be given blood tests to see if they have the same hidden cardiac problem that claimed the life of their father Liam at the age of just 39.

He died in April not knowing he suffered a hereditary condition which makes cholesterol levels soar, blocking arteries. His widow who is calling for people to be screened for the lethal gene will now get Tamsin, three, and one-year-old twins Rudy and Farrah tested.

She said: “We desperately hope they have not inherited dangerously high cholesterol, but we will cope with it if they do. At least they’ll have the chance to take life-saving cholesterol lowering drugs, whereas Liam didn’t.”

Liam a business manager with a Glasgow law firm suffered from hypercholesterolemia. It affects around 120,000 people in the UK. Many don’t know they have it until they suffer an episode.

Cathy 40, from Cambuslang in South Lanarkshire, added: “Liam’s death has been devastating but we have to survive it for the sake of the children.

“We have to accept this heartbreak and get the wee ones tested. As soon as they are five they’ll undergo a blood test which will look for the link. And if we can save more lives through my campaign that will be some comfort.”

Liam’s mum Sandra suffered a massive attack at the age of 42 because of the defect but she claims she was never told by doctors to get her son tested. Now she is distraught that his death could have been prevented.

“No-one told me that it was hereditary,” said Sandra, 62, from Hutchesontown, Glasgow. “Now I have lost my son and it’s devastating. I just cannot believe he has gone.

“He was a fit man of 6ft 3in who never had a day’s illness in his life. His death was unnecessary.”

Liam was taken to the Golden Jubilee Hospital in Clydebank near Glasgow a national centre of excellence for treatment of cardiac conditions but died despite a three-hour battle by surgeons.

He and Cathy had tried for 10 years to have a family and were overjoyed to become parents. Now that joy is tinged with sadness and the knowledge the children of hypercholesterolemia sufferers have a 50% risk of inheriting it. Those whose parents suffer heart attacks under 65 are most likely to carry the fatal gene.

Cathy hopes her campaign to raise awareness of the condition will save countless others the heartbreak she has endured.

“It’s our ambition to alert people to check their family history and get tested if they feel they’re at risk,” she says.

Since Liam’s death, she and friends have raised more than £12,000 for the British Heart Foundation Scotland.

“I can’t sit and weep, certainly not with three infants to care for,” said Cathy. “It would distress me if people pitied me instead of helping us spread the word.”

She also wants to see a national register of families at risk, so people do not have to witness scenes like daughter Tamsin asking when her daddy will be back.

“I am proud of the way she is coping, but it has been hard because she was very much a daddy’s girl,” Cathy added.

n Have you lost a family member because you weren’t warned about a hereditary condition? Email Janet Boyle or call her on 0141 567 2776.