YOU never quite know how you are going to react to the deepest, darkest sort of adversity until it actually happens to you.

When Caroline Gard’s beloved son Andrew died 20 years ago because of a problem with his heart, it must have felt like her whole life had been turned upside down.

The young man was fit, healthy and clever but collapsed in his room one day and never woke up.

For some people, this sort of tragic incident which came without rhyme, warning or reason would be destructive.

But somehow, Caroline and the rest of her family have taken the pain and grief they undoubtedly felt and channelled it into fundraising.

To collect more than £120,000 for Cardiac Risk in the Young is absolutely astonishing.

And whilst the money is good, it is arguably more important to have encouraged hundreds of other young people to get themselves checked for underlying heart conditions which could so tragically prove fatal.

If a single life has been saved because of these screening sessions then surely it has been well worth the time and effort which has been put in by the hardy volunteers involved.

When people die young, there is a terrible sense of loss, not only for the relatives and friends but the loss of what could have been, how their lives could have developed.

But one thing we can all be certain of is that Andrew would have been unbelievably proud of everything his mother has achieved in the last 20 years.

READ MORE: FUNDS RAISED IN MEMORY OF ANDREW TO FUND LIFESAVING HEART SCREENING