The Leeds Met Students' Union PR team have been working together on a campaign to raise awareness of the heart condition SADS at City Campus.

As a result of working with the charity group CRY, members of the Leeds Met Students' Union PR team joined together on Thursday 25 March to man an information stand at City Campus, where they spoke to students and handed out flyers with information about the conditions

To make their campaign stand out, the team decorated a glass window with multi-colour hearts to spell the word SADS. The PR team were then able to interact directly the students by asking people passing by to write the name of a loved one to stick on the display.

Sudden cardiac death is a dramatic and/or spontaneous death that is thought to be (and usually is) caused by a heart condition. It is a rare and relatively unknown condition and usually shows no symptoms. It is only preventable when a person can be treated with the correct medication. SADS can be discovered with ECG tests and checks with a specialist cardiac doctor. Currently this is not an option at Leeds General Infirmary.

The PR Unit is a voluntary team of PR students and other business students who work alongside the Students' Union. The students are able to put the theory they are learning into practice as well as building up their CVs. Previous campaigns they have run include 'Big Boys Should Cry' where they promoted the University's counseling service with excellent success.

The SADS campaign began after PR unit founders, Elizabeth Taylor and Adam Burns, read about the story of 19 year-old Leeds student, Tom Reid, who recently died of the condition. The article contained a statement from the parents who commented that they were going to fundraise to allow more people to get ECG tests, as it is not available on the NHS, without obvious symptoms.

As most students are unaware of SADS, the PR unit met with Antony and Halina Reid, Tom's parents, to find out more, as they felt like they wanted to help them raise awareness of the terrible and relatively unknown condition.

Adam Burns, manager of the PR Unit said: "We are extremely pleased with the reactions we have been getting from students. We have been able to inform many people who had never heard of SADS before, outlining the symptoms and what steps to take if you are worried. We have also been able to create an outstanding and bright piece of artwork which will hopefully allow our campaign to be more memorable."

Halina Reid, Tom's mum, added: "We would like to thank the PR team for helping us to raise awareness of SADS, especially to young people. It means so much to us if we are able to help just one person."