GRIEVING parents are campaigning to raise the awareness of potential heart problems in fit and healthy young people after tragedy struck their family.
Ian Bowen was a fit and healthy teenager until a few months before his death, when it was discovered he had a problem with his heart.
It was hoped the fault could be corrected with a simple procedure at Newcastle's Freeman Hospital.
Ian, 19, enjoyed a life of any other boy his age. He was an engineering student at Teesside University, enjoyed playing golf, going out with his friends and had a part-time job at a supermarket.
On the day of his death, four years ago, Ian played a round a golf on the morning, then went to work, before returning home to get ready to go out in Middlesbrough with his friends at 8.30pm.
An hour later his parents, Marilyn and Kenny, got a telephone call to say he had been taken to hospital in Middlesbrough.
In the time it took them to travel there from their home, in Redcar, he had died.
Mrs Bowen said: "It was a shock. He was on no medication and lived a typical teenage life. He was only 19 and had his full life ahead of him."
Since their son's death, Mr and Mrs Bowen have worked tirelessly to raise money for the charity, Cardiac Risk in the Young.
So far, with the help of family and friends, they have raised £17,000.
This week, they helped the charity further by appearing at a screening project which aimed to make young people aware of potential health problems they may encounter
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