A NEW heart monitor that will help save lives has a deeper meaning for a woman whose son died suddenly only two days after his 18th birthday.

Colin Hankin, from Woolston, died from Sudden Adult Death Syndrome, SADS, in 2000 and his mother Angela Morris has donated the heart monitor to Holes Lane surgery in Woolston in his memory.

Her seemingly healthy, sports-mad son had only visited the doctor three times in his life and never had reason to suspect anything was wrong with his heart.

Then, only two days after he turned 18, his mother found him dead in his bed.

Along with staff from Colin's former workplace, Claremont Interiors, she has been campaigning to raise both money and awareness.

A year-long fundraiser at Claremont meant there was enough money to buy two heart monitors.

One is at the Holes Lane surgery, the other in Liverpool.

"Hopefully these will stop someone else going through what I am," Angela said.

The new heart monitor was presented to the surgery on Tuesday, July 24, and Angela hopes it will save lives.

As waiting lists at hospitals are often long the monitor will mean more people can be treated at their doctors, decreasing both their waiting time and the hospital's waiting lists.

Angela now works for SADS UK, a charity that raises awareness of the condition that killed her son.

SADS is a form of arrhythmia, where the heart beats too quickly, slowly or irregularly.

"Losing Colin at such an young age was devastating but this helps me keep his memory alive," Angela said.

"I feel like I'm doing something and there is some sort of purpose to it," she added.

joanna.lean@guardian.co.uk