THE family of a young GAA player who died suddenly during a match will tonight host a first aid training event in a bid to prevent another family facing such tragedy.
Kevin King (22) from Eglinton, Co Derry, had been in goals in an indoor game with friends in Campsie last November when he collapsed.
He received extensive medical treatment at the scene, but passed away at Altnagelvin Hospital.
An avid GAA player and supporter, Kevin had played for St Mary’s, Slaughtmanus all his life.
Also a talented soccer player of Tamnaherin Celtic, Kevin had stopped playing competitive sport several months before his death after taking ill at a game in May.
He had spent several weeks in hospital and had been due to have an MRI scan the week before he died at the indoor game.
A post mortem found he died as a result of the rare heart condition myocardial fibrosis and further analysis uncovered a second condition, Arythmogenic Right Ventricular Dysplasia.
Since his tragic death, his parents John and Margaret and brother Martin have dedicated their time to the British Heart Foundation (BHF) NI and have already raised thousands of pounds to support the charity's work.
In their latest bid to raise awareness the family have organised a CPR training event in memory of Kevin.
It comes after the family successfully secured a a BHF 'nation of lifesavers community package', which contains a defibrillator and equipment needed to learn CPR.
St Mary's GAA club will offer the CPR training using the kit and the defibrillator, which will be situated at St Mary's Church at Tamnaherin, will be available for use by the local community in the event of a cardiac arrest.
Kevin's brother Martin said they hoped the initiative would prevent other families from suffering the heartache they had experienced.
"The idea came from Kevin's aunt, who is a district nurse, who wanted to do something practical following his death," he said.
"She wanted to see as many people trained as possible so that, God forbid, if this happened to someone else then there would be help on hand.
"This sort of training is available to all GAA clubs and we would like to see this rolled out across clubs in Ireland as we believe it will ultimately save lives.
"We would like to raise as much awareness of this initiative as possible in a bid to encourage other clubs to do it.
"If we could help prevent another family from experiencing what we have went through, it will be a triumph."
The event at St Mary's GAA is tonight at 7pm and open to the public.
