Staff at a hair salon have raised £2,205 in memory of a colleague who died from an undiagnosed heart condition aged 17.
The team at Lipstick and Locks in Sudbury held a fundraiser on Sunday after Madison Campbell, known as Maddy, from Colchester, died unexpectedly in her sleep on September 14, 2021.
All money that came from customers paying for treatments, including blow dries, cuts and eyebrow waxes, was donated to the charity Cardiac Arrest in the Young (CRY), which aims to raise awareness of - and prevent - sudden cardiac deaths.
A post-mortem revealed Maddy had a condition called hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, which caused her heart to fail.
The condition can be treated if detected through heart screening and the funds raised will go towards CRY’s work developing heart screening programmes.
According to CRY's website, every week in the UK at least 12 young people die of undiagnosed heart conditions.
Megan Cuck, manager at Lipstick and Locks in North Street, said staff had been really busy with customers queueing from 8.30am, half an hour before the doors opened.
She added: “It has been a great day. It has been really lovely to get all the team together and just have a day in memory of her.”
Maddy’s family are also organising a memorial ball for the former Honywood School pupil in Coggeshall.
The event will take place on April 22 at Marks Tey Hotel, also to raise money for CRY.
Her birthday is on April 19 and she would have been 18 – a milestone birthday the teenager had planned to wear her prom dress for as she never had a prom.
In March, her mum Kelly said she wanted to raise awareness of undetected heart conditions, as her daughter had not displayed any symptoms.
She told the EADT: "It's just horrible. The thing we struggle with is if we had known, Maddy could possibly have lived a long life with treatment.
"That's the hardest thing to deal with: it could have been prevented if we had known.
"Going forward, if we could raise money for heart screening days, if it detects one heart condition and prevents one family going through what we are going through, it's worth it."
She added: "It's something positive to have come out of her death. It would help us I think."
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