A FAMILY is hoping to save lives through a new foundation after a beloved mother died aged just 36.

Carli Lansley passed away from sudden arrhythmic death syndrome leaving her husband Karl Lansley to care for the couple’s two children - Jessica, 11 and seven-year-old Ethan.

Mr Lansley has set up a memorial fund in her honour to stop others dying from the often undiagnosed heart condition.

The 47-year-old, speaking almost a year on from his wife’s unexpected death, said: “It has naturally been a devastating time for the family, but we are now trying to do something positive to make sure no other family should go through what we are going through.

“I’m 100 per cent sure that Carli would still be with me if she had had an ECG heart screening.”

He has set up the Carli Lansley Memorial Fund within the charity Cardiac Risk In The Young (CRY), to raise money to hold ECG screenings in Southend.

Mr Lansley, a trade services clerk from Shepard Close, Eastwood, says the foundation has given him a new purpose in life.

He said: “We have two young children and they will always be my main focus, but I found when they went to sleep and I was at home, I would struggle with the loss of Carli.

“This started as something small and just snowballed from there. It has given me the aim of keeping her memory alive and making sure her name carries on.”

The memorial fund has already raised more than £5,000 and requires another £3,500 to arrange the first screening of 100 people, with every screening after that costing £5,000. “We’ve set ourselves a target of four screenings in a year, costing £20,000,” he explained.

“Keymed have agreeed in principle to hosting a screening and we hope Southend United and other groups will become involved.”

Mr Lansley says he’s been so overwhelmed with the response to his fundraising he is now in the process of registering his own charity, the Carli Lansley Foundation, in order to involve the whole community in doing something to benefit young people in Southend.

“If we can help even one person to be diagnosed or to get the help they need to support them through their condition, that will make it all worthwhile and we will know we have done good by my wife,” he said.

“I hope that we can get more backing and continue to hold more screenings across Southend in the future.”

Email info@carlilansleyfoundation.org.uk to find out more.