Quirke Foundation bring screening to The Downs GAA
At the end of this month The Downs GAA club will host a Cardiac Screening day to assess some of their underage players for undiagnosed health conditions.
Facilitated by the Dillon Quirke Foundation, a registered charity working to raise awareness of Sudden Adult Death Syndrome (SADS), the screening takes place on Tuesday June 24.
The Dillon Quirke Foundation funds widespread cardiac screening for young people aged between 13 and 17 who are involved in sport.
To date they have undertaken 10,400 free cardiac screenings in every county in Ireland in partnership with 275 sports clubs, including GAA, soccer, rugby, boxing and performing arts clubs.
The foundation was set up in honour of Dillon Quirke who collapsed and died during a hurling match at Semple Stadium in August 2022. On average, 100 young people in Ireland die each year from SADS, a rate much higher than that reported in other EU countries
Sharon Crowley is a Downs GAA club member and a parent to underage players: “It’s an amazing charity working tirelessly to try and detect cardiac issues in young athletes,” she told the Examiner.
Sharon described how the screening in the Mullingar club came about: “I contacted them after I saw a piece about it on an RTÉ programme. They had a segment about the Dillon Quirke Foundation and I thought it was a great service.
“I got in touch with them last year. We were put on a waiting list then for the screening day. They contacted us a couple of months ago with a date.”
The screenings are carried out by Advanced Medical Services (AMS), a provider of on-site medical services: “They will do 45 tests on the day. It was offered out to the age group they’re going to test young people between 13 and 17 years old. The bookings were made on a first come, first served basis.”
Sharon said any club or organisation that caters for young people can contact the charity to arrange screenings: “It’s open to any club to apply to them,” she said.
The Downs club understands the importance of such screening: “It’s close to home for our club in particular because we lost a player a few years ago by the name of Ben Murray.”
Following that tragedy Ben’s Lifeline was established to celebrate the short life of Ben, a happy, energetic, sport loving boy, who tragically died from a cardiac arrest aged just 13, due to a rare undiagnosed inherited heart condition.
“His family set up the charity Ben’s Lifeline,” Sharon said, “Ben’s parents, Alma and Boris, are fundraising to buy defibrillators for rural areas.”
The Mullingar event is another step for The Dillon Quirke Foundation to achieve the goal of ensuring that every young sports athlete, male and female in Ireland, will have mandatory screening for their heart.