Golf day: Derry footballer adds voice to Cormac Trust

THE silence that fell around the stadium when Christian Eriksen lay motionless on the pitch reflected the shock that something like this could happen to a person of the highest fitness.

Only for a defibrillator and CPR, Eriksen would have died -yet his rescue brought Sudden Arrhythmic Death Condition (SADS) back into the public conversation.

As a county, our eyes were opened to SADS when we lost the great Cormac McAnallen in 2004. After his death, the Cormac Trust was established – a charity dedicated to saving lives by screening, education, and training, around SADS.

Known to many Tyrone players and fans, Derry footballer, Kevin McCloy was also struck down a football pitch in 2014 and thankfully his life was saved.

Kevin joined forces with the Cormac Trust in their work to stop people losing their life to SADS, and is helping raise awareness and funds for research into this lethal condition.

“I have been a volunteer and a trustee with the Cormac Trust for a few years, and our mission is to save lives by supplying people with the equipment and expertise to save a life if required,” Kevin said. “It has given me extra strength and positivity to help save lives – and the Trust has certainly saved many!”

Since its inception, the Cormac Trust has invested in widespread screening for SADS, supplied hundreds of defibrillators, trained thousands of people in CPR and defibrillator use, and helped set up a ‘First Responders’ group covering a large part of South Ulster.

“But even with all of this, much more clearly needs to be done to save people who may have one of these hidden, and usually, inherited conditions.”

The Cormac Trust largely depends on public generosity so that they can carry out their work, making football pitches and other sporting venues safer places for everyone involved.

To raise money to enable them to do this, they are holding a Golf Classic in Omagh on September 17.

Some of the funds will go to two research projects, focused on the genetic origins and solutions to SADS conditions, of which the Trust have been long-time donors.

By Emmet McElhatton

e.mcelhatton@ulsterherald.com