Poppy Eagle, 20, died suddenly in August but her family is determined to have her legacy live on by setting up a charity to help prevent other families experience similar heartbreak
A “vibrant” 20-year-old student died suddenly from a silent undiagnosed heart condition that is estimated to affect as many as one in 300 children and young people in the world.
Poppy Eagle, from Washington, in Tyne and Wear, died on August 7 after her heart stopped and she could not be revived despite the best efforts of her family and emergency services. The student had been home for the summer when she died.
Following her death, her family set up the Poppy’s Light Foundation, a charity that aims to improve both bereavement support and screening for children and young people. The hope is that whatever caused Poppy’s heart to stop could be found during screenings and prevent a similar heart-breaking experience from happening to a different family.
Poppy’s absence is being felt acutely by the family with mum Vicki telling Chronicle Live: “Poppy’s Light fundraising has been such a success and there’s a real comfort in that. What we have found is that there is really not a great deal of support around for bereaved children.
“Poppy was such a loving person, so vibrant, so full of light. So the charity is a way of keeping that light shining while doing something that can support other children.
“Along with that there’s the cardiac screening – for us it’s the idea that screening could have at least given us some information that might have saved Poppy and it’s to see if we could save another family from the feelings we have this Christmas.”
According to Poppy’s Light Foundation said on its website that as many as one in 300 children and young people in the UK could be living with a silent undiagnosed heart condition.” The organisation hopes to raise awareness to prevent sudden cardiac deaths among the young via health screenings.
Poppy’s siblings Ollie, Faith, Heidi and Florence have all been closely involved, they were a close unit before the tragedy struck and processing the grief has been very difficult. Much of the inspiration behind the charity’s drive has been to provide better bereavement support for young people.
Speaking about hitting the £25,000 fundraising milestone the family set, Vicki added: “It’s just been the whole community coming together – so many family and friends, but even people who we had never met before have really helped get behind this. In January, my husband and son, and a few other dads and sons, will be climbing Kilamanjaro.”
Vicki, who spent her working life as a nurse, stepped back from her profession when Poppy died in order to support her other children as well as found the charity. She said her work family had been hugely supportive as well and had helped her through some of the toughest times.
To find out more about Poppy’s Light, visit the charity’s website or view its crowdfunding page here.
