Health secretary Andy Burnham was among the guests at a parliamentary reception for charity Cardiac Risk in the Young (CRY) yesterday evening.
CRY was founded in1995 to raise awareness of sudden arrhythmia death syndrome (SADS).
As well as campaigning and lobbying, it provides a subsidised cardiac screening programme for people aged under 36 and counselling support to bereaved families and individuals who may be diagnosed.
Burnham told an audience that included many prominent politicians that he had been involved with the CRY All Party Parliamentary Group since its inception – today more than 120 MPs are signed up to the group.
The health secretary said that CRY events are a time "to remember those people close to you" who had been victims of SADS.
He added that immense progress had been made and praised innovative screening services for young people that the charity has established.
Burnham said they "lay the ground" for a proposed national screening programme.
He said his vision of the NHS is a service that "spots problems early and stops preventable deaths" and that vision fits well with CRY's aims.
Burnham said that he is a regular competitor in the Great North Swim and next year he would compete for CRY.
He said the charity is both "a campaigning organisation and a doing organisation – that is what makes you so special".
Many of CRY's parliamentary supporters attended the event, among them MPs Crispin Blunt, Roger Gale, Mark Harper, Roberta Blackman-Woods, Jeffrey Donaldson, Mark Durkan, Vince Cable, Annette Brooke, Susan Kramer and Andrew George.
Also there were 2012 Olympics chief Lord Coe, senior Downing St advisers Kirsty McNeill and Greg Beales and more than 100 CRY supporters.
The charity's consultant cardiologist, Dr Sanjay Sharma, said that at least ten young people die in England and Wales every week from SADS.
He noted that the recent death of pop star Stephen Gately had brought an unprecedented level of press and public attention their work.
Chief executive Alison Cox paid tribute to CRY's parliamentary supporters in getting their agenda taken seriously.
"You will never get anywhere until you make some noise in parliament," she said.
In April 2010 CRY will be running regular cardiac testing clinics that will be available free of charge to any person in the South East who was born in 1995.
The venues and dates of these clinics will be updated on their website early next year.
