A MAN who lost two of his young family members to sudden heart failure is cycling from one end of the UK to the other.

Stuart Lawson, from Copford, said he felt helpless when his cousin's two children died within five years of each other.

His cousin Helen Paul, and her husband Gordon, were the parents of David, 17, and Jennifer, 16.

David had just signed a contract to be a professional footballer for Hibernian FC in Scotland before he died.

Stuart, 59, of Queensberry Avenue, said: "David died about four years ago, he had been at a pre-Christmas party with his football friends.

"He was heard going to the bathroom at 3am but when his parents went to wake him he had died."

Stuart and his neighbour Andy Howe are cycling 950 miles from Lands End to John O'Groats for Cardiac Risk in the Young.

Together with two other friends, they will be setting off from Lands End on July 22.

On average 12 young people a week die as a result of sudden heart failure. David's younger sister, Jennifer, was also one of them.

She died about five years before her brother.

Stuart added: "Jennifer was 16, she had been with some friends in the afternoon.

"She came home in the early evening and went to bed complaining of a headache. She died during the night."

CRY funds research and provides support to bereaved families. Helen and Gordon do not want others to suffer the anguish they have endured.

Stuart said: "The initial shock has left them a shell of the people they once were, but they have put their efforts into raising awareness of the subject.

"They have worked with CRY to raise money and they are doing a lot to raise awareness, but how do you ever get over the loss of your children?

"At the time, particularly after David's death, I just felt really powerless. I felt there was nothing I could do.

"However, once Helen and Gordon made it clear they wanted to raise awareness, I wanted to join them in their efforts and do something in their children's memory."

He said the personal challenge of cycling from one end of the UK to the other was also attractive to him.

The group of four have organised the whole thing themselves.

Stuart added: "I'm feeling apprehensive but excited, a lot of work has gone into it.

"It will be a relief to get it done but it's a really exciting thing."

To donate visit https://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/Team/LeJoggersforCRY.